santa teresa
jacó is a town that nobody seems to like. rather, it´s a town that everybody loves to hate. it´s great if you want cocaine or herpes, or you want to drink your brains out. it´s a service industry place, so it´s filled with tourists passing through to party or fatin´it up in resturants. and i miss it. it´s not the aforementioned hookers or parties or shopping, but the people i met who lived there. the workers at my hostel, the soda i frequented, the girl at the helados place, my surf instructor.
on the surface santa teresa is a much realer place. there are no high rise hotels, the main road is just a dirt path through the jungle, the beach is beautiful, and a lot more people seem settled here. so what is unsettling me? people stay here for longer (weeks and months) but all the activities are basically the same. surfing, shopping, and partying your brains out all while living rich in a poor country. what i like about jacó is that it doesn´t pretend it´s anything else, it´s ugly hairy balls are hanging right out for all to kiss. here in santa teresa people can pretend they aren´t living fat off a poor country. that they are more than tourists or imperialists. of course i´m a participant in all of this, i just don´t like when people won´t admit it.
on the surface santa teresa is a much realer place. there are no high rise hotels, the main road is just a dirt path through the jungle, the beach is beautiful, and a lot more people seem settled here. so what is unsettling me? people stay here for longer (weeks and months) but all the activities are basically the same. surfing, shopping, and partying your brains out all while living rich in a poor country. what i like about jacó is that it doesn´t pretend it´s anything else, it´s ugly hairy balls are hanging right out for all to kiss. here in santa teresa people can pretend they aren´t living fat off a poor country. that they are more than tourists or imperialists. of course i´m a participant in all of this, i just don´t like when people won´t admit it.