Not a whole lot new to report. I wrote a brief for the photo essay on the Central Post Office today. I asked their spokesperson for a very brief little quote on the importance of the building and she wound up having the general manager of the whole postal service write me this nice, lengthy letter about the building. While at the post office the photographer and I learned that the city and Correos de Costa Rica are currently fighting over control of the building, with the municipality trying to take it from them, so we kind of stumbled in for a photo essay at a politically sensitive time.

Speaking of politics, the CAFTA referendum is coming up in September, so unfortunately I won´t be here to see it. If you haven´t heard, they´ve been trying to get this free trade agreement passed throughout Central America and there has been a lot of resistance to it here. A few months back it was decided that CAFTA would be ratified by popular vote, which stunned some politicians, but I don´t think this really hurts its chances of passing. The anti-CAFTA people seem to be gaining ground though and the population is basically split on the issue. The main problem with it in Costa Rica is that it forces several monopolies (in electricity, telecommunications) to compete against other (foreign) businesses. These industries employ a huge chunk of the population, and if the market opens up they might not be able to afford their workers or be able to provide certain discount services to poorer areas. I think the real question at heart though for the people is asking themselves whether or not all this foreign investment thats been coming into the country anyway is actually benefiting Costa Rica, or foreign governments and industries.

I have a hotel and restaurant review to do Monday for a very nice, modern looking place set in one of the ¨sketchiest¨ (according to my editor) sides of San Jose. It´s a Caribbean-themed hotel and restaurant, and since it´s in town I´m not going to stay there, just eat and ask for a tour of the rooms. Chelcey, a photography intern from the University of Texas, is going with me. Shouldn´t be too sketchy.

I´ve also been put in charge of coming up with content for the annual Fourth of July supplement the paper distributes at the U.S. Embassy´s Independence Day gala, or something. We´re not sure what events are planned because the 50-year-old annual hot dog cookout has been canceled for the first time this year, and the hot dog committee is being a little hush hush about why. One funny thing about the U.S. embassy cookout is that it´s free, but it´s closed off to anyone who isn´t an American. Most other embassies in San Jose have a food-related event that people of any nation can come to, and they charge money, but then donate it to charity. Anyway, I think this supplement is about 20 pages, so I´ve got a lot of brain storming to do. They told me I could write a column for it too. That fills me with joy.

It´s raining. Mucho. I got off work early today so I could go around Coronado to take pictures...but when I got home it started raining. Mucho. For those who don´t know Costa Rican weather, the rainy season just started and will progressively get worse throughout the summer (but much worse in the fall). It´s normally sunny in the morning, cloudy by lunch time, raining by the afternoon, cloudy at dinner, and clear past midnight. It really is that simple to measure. It´s quite a contrast to my summer in the Peruvian desert, where it didn´t rain once the whole time I was there. The rain helps you take a nap, at least.