Costa Rica´s Best Guide Online Magazine

It was the morning of December 16, 1966. I woke up very happy and at the same time, very sad. I knew I had to say goodbye to my beloved dog and to my beautiful and lovely country, Costa Rica. My dad had emigrated to the promised land looking for a better life and to search for better opportunities for his family. It all happened so fast, that morning I decided to take my dog for her daily walk, not knowing it was going to be our last one together. She looked at me with those sad eyes and it seemed that she knew this was our last time together. I was very happy because I was coming to the most beautiful country, the promised land of Los Angeles, CA. This city became our first home and only home, little did I know it would be a 52 year experience in the United States of America. I was born in the mid-fifties in one of the seven provinces of Costa Rica, the province of Puntarenas. During that time my dad worked for the United Fruit Company, which was the mothership in the banana exporting business in all of Central America. THE LONG ROAD BACK HOME By Manny Gutierrez

That ’ s where my dad met my mom and where I was born. After arriving in Los Angeles we were very happy because our family was together again. My father had left Costa Rica a year earlier and he really worked hard to make his dream come true...to bring us to the United States to get a better education and to be together as a family. After several years we became professionals in different fields, we were four, 3 boys and my older sister. We had come from a family of modest means and this was an opportunity that I constantly thank my dad for. I took advantage and went on to study and graduate from college at California State University at Los Angeles. After 52 long years, I decided to move back to Costa Rica. I had experienced a

college education, a marriage, sixr beautiful kids, and a successful marketing and advertising business in Hollywood, CA and it was time to try and regain my lost Costa Rican childhood and upbringing, but I only saw that with different eyes, the eyes of an experienced person in many fields and walks of life who was not the young boy that had left Costa Rica so many years ago. During Junior High in Los Angeles, I met my friend Hernan Carazo. Like me, he is also Costa Rican and also moved to California at a very young age. I clearly remember when we both shared a unique experience in Miami, Florida. We were both taking the same government class and were chosen and invited to attend the Republican National Convention in

COSTA RICA ´ S BEST GUIDE MAGAZINE 196