Gringo Gazettes

By Meg Yamamoto

In the beginning, there were oxcarts.

A few decades ago, when Costa Rica was a sleepy coffee republic, these sturdy wagons– painted miniatures of which now constitute some of the country’s most popular tourist-souvenir offerings – were the principal mode of transportation from plantation to port.

Now, in this Central American nation of 4.3 million inhabitants, oxcarts have been replaced by Hyundais, Toyotas, and charter buses (though some might argue the country’s poor roads are still better suited to bovines).

Combustible engines aren’t the only things that have multiplied in this developing nation. A fleet of gringos – the semi-affectionate moniker Costa Ricans bestow upon English-speaking North Americans – has parked on the country’s rainforested hillsides and sandy beaches, and seems here to stay.

Many are retirees. Some are snowbirds who live here only part of the year, during the worst of the northern winter. Others are oddballs looking for a fresh, tropical start in life. Whatever its makeup, Costa Rica’s English-speaking expatriate community is alive, well and growing, spurring a parallel increase in the demand for information in English.

In this, the 51st anniversary year of the country’s oldest English-language newspaper, The Tico Times, dozens of newspapers, magazines, and online publications are being produced in English in the country. While media in North America are increasingly being consolidated, with competing newspapers vanishing in most cities, in Costa Rica publications are on the rise, and most are independent – even mom-and-pop – operations.

The granddaddy of them all is The Tico Times, founded in 1956 by veteran newswoman Elisabeth Dyer, formerly of The New York Post, as a project to teach high school students about journalism. Chronicled in the paper’s archives are decades of original reports covering the news in Costa Rica, from the arrival of television in the country to the Sandinista Revolution in neighboring Nicaragua to the country’s transformation into a powerhouse tourism destination.

The paper has always been a family operation; Elisabeth Dyer’s husband Richard served as publisher from 1972 to 1996, and their daughter, Dery, now publisher, was the editor of the paper for more than thirty years.

Meg Yamamoto is the editor of the “Weekend” section of the The Tico Times. She worked as a writer and editor in Canada and as a globe-trotting freelancer before settling in Costa Rica, where she has lived for five years.