Costa Rica and Luis By Sebas

Originally Costa Rica was a Spanish colony settled in 1522. It was the poorest colony in Central America. It was so poor and empty that the few Spanish families that settled in what is now Costa Rica had to work hard on the land. This condition of living created individualism (To not be dependent on others.) as a way of life among Costa Ricans. (Luis C.).

In Costa Rica you are legally required to attend school until the 9th grade. (Luis Corrales). Only a few schools in Costa Rica go over the 11th grade. The students that pass the 11th grade get “The Costa Rican Bachillerato.” (It is equivalent to the U.S. high school diploma.) (Wikipedia). Thus the percentage of literate people in Costa Rica is ninety five percent; because of this, most people in Costa Rica have a “moderately good job.”(World Encyclopedia).

Costa Rica’s economy runs on tourism, agriculture, and exports of electronics and computer components, such as microchips. (Wikipedia). Therefore there are many “well paid” jobs available in Costa Rica. (Luis C.). Poverty has decreased in the last 15 years and many people live better than they had before. Costa Rica used to mainly produce bananas and coffee. Even though coffee, bananas, pineapple, sugar, lumber, wood products and beef are still important exports, recently electronics, pharmaceuticals, financial outsourcing, software development, and ecotourism have become the important industries in Costa Rica's economy. (Wikipedia).

My dad Luis was offered a job in the United States. He was really excited of going to the U.S because he wanted to go start his new job. Luis had a job about nature conservation in Latin America and the Caribbean. He is a hundred percent environmentalist. It was one of the many things he cared about. Although he was excited of going to the U.S., he was a little concerned about if he would fit in a country so culturally different then his home country, Costa Rica.

My dad decided to go to the U.S. because he was offered a job by the Nature Conservancy. The type of job was pretty much completely described by the company name. Luis is a biologist and he was very passionate of saving nature, so he wanted to save all he could. Luis also wanted to go to the U.S. because he liked D.C., the city in which he would be living in the U.S.

Since Luis was coming for work he didn’t pack so many things. He knew that he would be in a more formal environment so he packed all his suits. Luis also brought enough money to survive until his first paycheck. He also brought his college degrees and a lot of paperwork from the I.N.S. The last thing he brought was a couple pounds of his favorite Costa Rican coffee.

When Luis arrived to the U.S. he found out that his coworkers were very passionate with conservation. Many have visited Costa Rica and other countries. My dad’s coworkers were also very willing to help him settle down in his new job. At the time Luis’s main concern was to find a permanent place to live. Fortunately, one of his coworkers who he had already met in Costa Rica offered to help him find a nice place to live.

Luis was supposed to stay in the U.S. for three years but, his company requested an extension to stay in the U.S. Now a day Luis is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Costa Rica. He married a woman named Marilu Marin whom is still his wife, and then they had a child named Sebastian. Luis continues working as a consultant in environmental issues and has a small computer services company. He also stayed in the U.S. because the kind of job he was doing was not just for one, but many countries.