Economics With A Face

The afternoon was hectic as we rushed around to purchase our airplane tickets to Venezuela as well as outbound tickets to Panama from San Jose. It amazingly all worked out and at 6:00 we went out to grab a bite to eat.

We ordered a plate for two that turned out to be huge portions of various greasy appetizers. There were chicken wings, fried bananas, even fried cheese. Needless to say I was in heaven. As we were finishing two ten year old boys came in who saw us packing up the leftovers. They asked if they could have some so of course we gave them some food and they were off. One of them came back into the restaurant 2 minutes later and asked if he could just have the entire bag of leftovers so he could share them with his friends. We handed it over and as the boy, surprised, exited the restaurant and screamed “Marcos!!!” to his friend across the street, holding up the bag victoriously as if he had won the lottery.

That attracted the attention of another young boy who was 12. He came in and after offering to sell us some cashews asked if he could have some food. We’d just given away all the good stuff we explained, but he pointed to the bed of lettuce and vegetables that the appetizers had come on. If he wanted it, it was his, we explained, so he sat down next to us and devoured the salad as we talked to him about his living situation. He described what he and his family had to eat on a daily basis. Gallo pinto, a mixture of flavored rice and black beans, which comes with practically every meal in Central America, was the staple. They rarely had chicken and rarely vegetables. It is a telling sign when a 12 year old boy gulps down huge bites of salad as if it were ice cream.

Another group of nine and ten year olds passing by saw the boy eating next to us and came in to see if they could get any food. We explained there was nothing left yet they pointed to the plate of leftover bones from the chicken wings. “There’s still some meat on those,” they said with a somewhat dumbfounded look on their faces. Em put these leftovers together on some napkins for them and they thanked us and were out the door cleaning the bones completely. It was a heart-wrenching scene.

As we were getting up to leave, Carlos, from the night before came by. He walked with us to the plaza with his hand on Em’s arm and I gave him some money and some advice. It really didn’t seem like he wanted any advice though. I’m not sure if it was because he was only 7 years old or because he was a very hardened 7 year old and didn’t want to be taking advice from a gringo. Either way you could tell he smart nice kid. You’d have to be inhuman not to feel for all these young guys.

That night back at the hotel we talked some more with Eelco and Bas, a couple from the Netherlands, who we had met earlier in the day. If you thought we were on a long trip take a look at their website, www.baseneelco.nl. They have been traveling for the last 11 months in the south of Mexico and Central America with no set date for returning home. Along the way they make websites for hotels (both have masters in computer science) and often stay for free because of it. They plan on traveling around the globe but if they get tired are just going to head back. Next up they are going to do a big loop through South America, and then head up through the Caribbean to the U.S. They might stop by and see us in California in about a year and half.