|
|
|
Police units were out in force last night to protect truckloads of U.S. rice being unloaded from a cargo ship at the Port of Caldera. Rice growers have promised to block the unloading or worse. Some growers with their large trucks were in the area late Thursday night but there was no confrontation. Some growers and rice workers showed up earlier in the day, but the bulk of their numbers still were blocking Avenida Principal in San José. There 18-wheelers loaded with farm tractors had been parked two abreast
since Monday, throwing downtown traffic patterns into
A.M. Costa Rica photo
When Ana Broennimann thinks of fruit or vegetation, she thinks BIG. Her giant canvases also are experiments in texture. See more HERE |
might be leaving late Thursday, but
they did not say to where.
At Caldera, the major Pacific harbor, the ship containing 26,000 tons of U.S. rice was being unloaded most of the day. Unloading to tractor-trailers continued into the night. Related demonstration Click HERE Rice producers believe that the U.S. imports will depress local prices. The ship had been kept from unloading for more than a month. The National Assembly has passed a measure to create a government monopoly to control importation and the price of rice. The police were dressed for action. Each wore a gas mask, and some canisters of tear gas were in evidence. They were stationed at the head of an access road to the Caldera docks just on the highway to nearby Puntarenas and San José. Some rice growers and workers were gathered nearby but not close enough or in numbers enough to represent a threat. Some police officials said they expected more demonstrators to arrive in the early morning hours of today. Some of the rice demonstrators in San José were reluctant to leave because they were enjoying the entertainment and diversions of the capital city while their trucks were blocking the main street. Most slept either in the cabs of the trucks or in makeshift beds nearby. Most observers said they were surprised that the farmers did not leave as soon as the legislature passed on first reading a plan to create La Corporación Arrocera Nacional, a national rice monopoly that would be in charge of setting prices and approving or disapproving any importation of foreign rice. The cooperation’s board is composed of producers. The measure has to pass muster with the Supreme court before being returned
to the assembly for a final vote perhaps in a month.
|
|
|
| Lately it seems that I am taking
more and more pills, each one for a different problem and one for the side
effects of one of the other pills. This bothers me. When I was working,
I had an assistant who was taking eight different pills, five of them to
treat the side effects of the others. She became very ill and never recovered
from the operation she had to have in spite of the first pill she was taking
to cure her problem.
Anyone who watches television is aware of the number of ads for different drugs — and of all of the incredible side effects you are expected to endure in order to get relief from one ailment. The drug makers seem to think that if they list the side effects of their drugs (even if one of them is "sudden death"), they are off the hook. What is also disturbing is the high cost of all of these medications. Meanwhile I have been thinking about writing about the ubiquitous Ficus. This remarkable tree seems to grow in all climates, altitudes and sizes. Sandy, who grows bonsai, says that Ficus even make nice bonsai. I love trees. Anyway, so the other day when I was downtown and walking through Parque Morazan, I stopped in front of a huge tree, first because I always notice the roots of trees, and this one had magnificent ones. Many of the roots were above ground, making wonderful spaces which reminded me of when I was little and one of my favorite pastimes was making a plan of a house at the foot of a tree, using the roots as walls As I looked up, I saw that it also had magnificent branches. One had even grown a ridge to support another branch. I believe trees have consciousness. A little plaque stated that the tree was a "Higueron Ficus Jimenez ll." Really, I thought, a Ficus? As I was contemplating this, a voice said something like "Pick up a leaf." A gentleman sitting on a park bench had been watching me. I walked over to him and asked if that was indeed a Ficus. He said no, it was a Higueron and the leaves gave off a milk that was good for treating ulcers. He then went on, quite passionately, to tell me |
that the earth grew all of the necessary cures for what ails us. That most of it was free or nearly so, but that man made drugs and charged exorbitant prices for the drugs. In the campo, he said, when a dog or cat has stomach trouble, it will find a particular plant and chew the leaves, and the juice cures them. "Just watch the animals and learn," he said. And the ancients, I thought, remembering something I had read about the Indians of the Andes who chewed the coca leaf. It not only helped them survive in the rarified air. It curbed their appetite and gave them energy. Addiction was not a problem. Modern man came along, isolated the part that gave a high and developed a drug for which we have, indeed, paid an exorbitant price. I remembered reading that the coca leaf contained vitamin B complex, among other nutrients, that seemed to prevent the deleterious side effects. How many other natural medicines have we turned into drugs with harmful side effects, I wondered? It is funny how things like that happen. I tend to believe that there are no accidents or coincidences. This ‘chance’ encounter with the man on the bench was telling me something. For the moment, the mighty Ficus will have to wait, as I am now caught up in reading about alternative treatments for ailments. It seems to me that allopathic research into the efficacy of herbal and other "natural"remedies is limited mainly to warning us about possible side effects, perhaps as someone has said, because these treatments cannot be patented. Costa Rica is an ideal place to do this research because the Central Market has stalls that sell medicinal herbs and there are many practitioners of homeopathic medicine here. It certainly can’t hurt to check out what Mother Earth has in her medicine chest. |
|
our daily digest |
|
tourism reports |
|
our back issues |
|
a news story |
|
Classified ads |
|
tourism ads |
|
real estate ads |
|
Consular info |
The Vault is a convenient profit
oriented partnership. It is not a bank, not a loan company, not an
investment firm. However, our partners feel the benefits our firm
receives from all three. They allow us and you not to stand in line.
We report your growth as a convenient information source. In this
way we all work together as successful partners.
|
|
|
