by Runaway Slave | Jun 21, 2006 | Costa Rica, Essays & Articles, Human Interest, Libertarian Curmudgeon
Comida is the Spanish word for food. Here in Costa Rica, for hustlers and the truly destitute alike, comida is high on the list of magic words used to pry coins from gringo pockets. The locals peg me for a gringo so fast you would think I was wearing a Stars and...
by Runaway Slave | Jun 14, 2006 | Costa Rica, Essays & Articles, Human Interest, Libertarian Curmudgeon
Against long odds, tiny Costa Rica has a team playing in the Copa Mundial, soccer's World Cup. Twenty-five or thirty of us had gathered at "The Friendship Institute" to watch the opening game. We all wore red soccer jerseys and big smiles. The excitement...
by Runaway Slave | May 17, 2006 | Essays & Articles, Human Interest, Libertarian Curmudgeon
Floyd Patterson looked back at me from the sports page of the Spanish language daily on my kitchen table. In the 1998 photo he was handsome. His face was surprisingly undamaged by 25 years of being punched by large, powerful men. He smiled a wry smile. ...
by Runaway Slave | Mar 27, 2006 | Costa Rica, Human Interest, Libertarian Curmudgeon
We met the inventor of the game called Machi in the park. We battled to a tie. I think he was setting me up.
by Runaway Slave | Mar 13, 2006 | Essays & Articles, Guns & Gun Control, History, Human Interest, Libertarian Curmudgeon
Personal weapons are what raised mankind out of the mud and the rifle is the queen of personal weapons. — Jeff Cooper “Where’s Winchester?” she asked. The woman is an expat American living here in Costa Rica. She was referring to the word embroidered on my...
by Runaway Slave | Mar 7, 2006 | Costa Rica, Essays & Articles, Human Interest, Libertarian Curmudgeon
With an hour to kill, I slid my ample gringo butt onto the low stone wall. The stone was polished smooth by thousands of butts before mine. There were benches too. People sat on them alone or in pairs, and on the walls. Massive trees cast a thick shade. I was at the...
by Runaway Slave | Feb 20, 2006 | Essays & Articles, History, Human Interest, Libertarian Curmudgeon, Liberty
Falling afoul of the enforcers in Key West’s fatuous and elaborate game of “Mother May I” put me in mind of a simpler time when we were not so eager to saddle ourselves with the attentions of the ethically challenged. I pine for the good old days when only the Mob ran...
by Runaway Slave | Feb 20, 2006 | Bubble, Costa Rica, Economics, Essays & Articles, Human Interest, Libertarian Curmudgeon
Against all advice we arrived at night. We’d been driving for 2 hours in the dark through something like Jurassic Park. An impenetrable wall of vegetation lined both sides of the narrow, winding road. Lame T-Rex jokes were hilarious. Every fallen log looked like a big...
