Gone again

We're on our way to Costa Rica! How did this happen? I'm not sure.
It seems friends of ours were going there to do a surfing and family
vacation (contradictory, methinks), and they got to talking to Francie,
and the next thing I know we're on a plane to San Jose, Costa Rica.

We're planning on spending most of our time on or near the beach around
Dominical, on the SW coast. Yes, I know it's THE haven for American
budget tourists looking to surf/party, but it's also home to several
marine reserves, close to the mountains (half an hour to San Isidro de
el General), and well away from the bigger population centers.

Ready to travel! 

But what I really want to write about is fear. In the USA we have fear
drummed into us everyday, from every direction. Don't talk to
strangers, watch out for 'evil doers' in our midst, lock your doors,
protect your children (from everything except rampant violence in media I
guess).

I remember a time when this wasn't the case. I've hitchhiked all over the
West, picked up lots of hitchhikers myself, spent many a night sleeping on
the beach, partying with strangers, and generally not watching my back.
Other than getting propositioned a few times by the wrong gender, and
having my wallet stolen on the Alaska ferry, nothing terribly untoward has
befallen me.

As much as I try not to buy into this fear mongering (have you
seen "Bowling for Columbine"?), I still have this gut reaction when my 7
yr old daughter goes trucking off to some far corner of the airport, or
stops to look at some candy and disappears from my sight.

Now I know most American's will say that this fear is justified (see
above), and perhaps it is, in environments where the constant fear
mongering has lead to high rates of violent and personal crime. But I
think most of the rest of the world is a lot more forgiving of wayward
childhood, lax security procedures, and tends not to have this fear
reaction.

I'm going to pay attention to this.