Tourism has been good work for him, even if the hours aren't always kind — hotels need someone available around the clock, every day of the year. Still, he says, the work is clean, and life in it is a lot less hard than it was back when he made his living fishing.
He hopes to stay in tourism for good. He's been away from fishing too long to go back to it comfortably now, and most of what he's learned working the hotel floor doesn't transfer easily to any other kind of job.
Nearly every hotel owner he's worked for has been a foreigner — which isn't surprising, he notes, since almost all the hotels in the region are foreign-owned. He's also had Costa Rican bosses along the way.
Foreign owners, in his experience, generally treat staff more professionally. Even so, he still prefers working for a local boss. He believes Costa Ricans should try to stay in charge of their own tourism industry, rather than watching it run entirely by outsiders — and he'd like tourists to help by using local businesses whenever they can.
“I believe we Costa Ricans should try to stay in charge of our own tourism industry.”
European tourists, he's found, tend to be especially kind to hotel staff. Colleagues working in restaurants tell him other visitors can be more demanding — though often better tippers. Those tips matter more than most guests realise: wages in the industry aren't high, and for workers like him, the difference a good tip makes is real.