I couldn't even be called a "blogger" as rarely as I do it. I just passed a homeless woman here in downtown San Jose. She was probably 80 years old, sitting on the side of the street. I watched her as she trapped a piece of paper under her feet and struggled to pick it up. I thought it was a dollar as hard as she was struggling to lift it to her hand with her feet. After numerous attemtpts I turned around and walked back to her. I picked up the "dollar" but it was only a scrap of paper. I don't know if she knew it was just a piece of litter and was trying to clean it up, or had thought it was money. Either way, when she smiled at me with her toothless smile my heart broke into a million pieces. I'm in the middle of paychecks and I'll admit things are tight. I searched the house for change to take the bus here just to walk a round and have something to do. I also scraped up enough to by some candy (don't feel sorry for me) while I was here...but I gave all my change to the homeless woman. Then I came here to the park to "blog" and people-watch and listen to Ani Difranco. People-watching is hard to do when everyone is watching you. I'm reminded again that even though I've been here 2 years and 9 months I still stick out like a nun in a bar doing shots of tequila. There's a freak sitting across from me (well laying on the ground) with white contacts in his eyes. He and I seem to be the "attractions" of the park today. (I'll admit, my mohawk and dress with Nikes don't help me blend in.)
I want to write and be all deep and insightful but I guess I'm too private a person for all that jazz... So I'll try to be a little insightful and share some things I've learned here in Costa Rica:
- roosters crow all the freaking time, not just when the sun comes up
- parrots can fly when they are not locked in a cage and it is a truly beautiful site
- if you shake an egg and it moves arond inside and makes noise then it's bad
- if yu have light hair/eyes/eyebrows, people will call you "macha" or "machita" no matter what your name is and you will be overcharged whether it's for food, water, or clothes...or eggs (hence the Gringa Price)
- chickens sleep in trees
- showers in cold water cause bad moods (for me)
- making a living in Costa Rica is hard
- seeing the mountains never gets old
- landlords can legally raise your rent 10% every year (although mine raised mine 30% last year)
Man I feel sorry for the dude with the white contacts. He looks like maybe he's coming down off some drugs and doesn't know where he is. If he would keep his tongue in his mouth and stop talking to himeself then people might not stare at him so much...and if he got up off the ground and took out the white warefolf contacts...and all that guyliner.
I'll leave you with some lyrics of Ani Difranco:
"I'm in the middle of Alabama and they stare at me where ever I go. I don't think they like my haircut, I don't think they like my clothes. I can't wait to get back to New York City, where at least when I walk down the street, no one ever hesitates...to tell me exactly what they think of me..."
Hey the white contact guy just sat up and he's picking his nose! He's definately attracting more attention than me today =)
I'm outy...til next time.
