From La Nación in Buenos Aires, translated by reader Joe Hartley.

SAN JOSE: Thousands of Costa Ricans marched through the main streets of San José to protest against the possible ratification of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) with the United States, in a festive atmosphere without a trace a violence.

With placards, T-shirts and with phrases like “No to CAFTA, Yes to Costa Rica” and “Costa Rica is not for sale,” thousands of union members, environmentalists, university students, indigenous people [NB: probably an error], and politicians demonstrated against the CAFTA in a march that ended near the Congress building.

The vice-chancellor of the state Technological Institute of Costa Rica (TEC) and principal organizer of today’s activity, Eugenio Trejos, declared during the march that the FTA is harmful, and asked the government to withdraw it from legislative consideration.

“We are saying ‘no’ to the FTA . . . and that the government should remove it from consideration before the Legislative Assembly and open a space for profound dialog over what should be the model for development. We don’t want implementation plans that sell the country,” affirmed Trejos near the Congress.

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Escrow should close today on our new home. Wahoo! It’s been quite a ride, selling in California and buying in Connecticut.

Watching real estate prices, and all the crazed mortgages people are using, well, I’ve never followed the beaten path and in this case, am certainly glad Sue and I didn’t. We put 70% down and have a 15 year fixed rate baby mortgage. Fall mountains, just don’t fall on me.

What will happen to those with variable rate balloon mortgages? Many of them will suffer real pain, that’s what. We got lucky, the bizarrely high real estate prices in LA allowed us to cash out and move here. With the Internet, both Sue and I can continue what we do, and we both brought clients with us.

So, we have affordable housing, secure careers (or about as secure as any career can be now) yet too many, friends included, live in apartments with high rents, have maxxed out credit cards, and live precariously from paycheck to paycheck.

Affordable housing should be a right, not a luxury. In a saner, more equitable economic system, it would be. That’s what we need to be working towards.

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(By Sue and Bob)

LA Outsiders (folks not residing in Los Angeles):

* Don’t know traffic. They think they do, but believe me, they don’t. Those who haven’t driven for one hour and not yet passed the next exit ramp — or who haven’t been delayed for hours by a gawker’s block (”Look! A shoe! By the side of the road!”) — or who haven’t seen the sky fade to the color of putridity while their Starbucks coffee grows cold and rancid in the cupholder — They Don’t Know.

* Think everyone in LA is laid back and relaxed. “Surf’s up, dude.” Well … no. Most LA denizens have a bad case of the “LA Meanies”. You would too, if you Knew Traffic.

* Ask where they can find famous people. Take tours that stop on Rodeo Drive and Hollywood & Vine — where the famous people aren’t. Hint: the famous people — most of them, anyway — try to lay low or get out of town.

* Move to Hollywood dreaming they’ll make it big in the movies. Maybe they will. Or maybe they’ll get on-the-job training in food service.

LA Insiders

* Have a genuine horror of cold weather. (You mean you actually went outside when it was 25 and didn’t die?)

* Can’t spell half the places of New England. Hint: the second ‘c’ in Connecticut is silent. Worcester is pronounced woo-stah. The trick to spelling Massachusetts is knowing when to stop the esses. Does this clear things up?

* Have never seen a 70 year-old woman without a face lift. (”Look! Yoda!”)

* Give remarkably accurate Richter Scale estimates seconds after an earthquake has rattled through beneath them.

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