Mauricio

I think this may be my first blog without a photo.  Usually the photos are the subject of the blog, but in this case, I do not have one.

Monday I had a typical Costa Rica morning.  I had one just one goal - get a female dog to Jaco - 20 miles up the coast - to get her spayed.  The dog belongs to my friend Elizabeth who is currently in Australia due to a medical emergency regarding her mother.....who is now doing better, but Elizabeth does not know when she will be back in CR.  Anyway, it was on Saturday that another friend sent me an e-mail informing me of the spay appt.  To do this, I had to make arrangements to pick up El's car from a tico family, then get the dog who is living at El's house but taken care of by another tico, William.  I had contacted both parties the day before to make arrangements and amazingly - and this is truly amazing - when I went to get the car and then the dog, I had both within 15 minutes.  Seriously amazing!  Nothing is ever easy here!!!

So there I am, cruising up the beautiful coast, on time, dog on board.  I walk into the clinic and the vet is standing right there.  Her name is Wendy.  We know each other very well.  I tell her I am there for the appt, she just looks at me - checks the schedule, there is no appointment.  I tell her about Doris, the woman who notified me.  Doris is a volunteer for the McKee foundation which supports the rescue and care of abandoned animals.  They try to call her - no answer, of course.  The appt. is actually set for November 1st!

So there I was headed straight back to EO.  Instead of the other errands I planned while I was in town, I could not leave the dog in a hot car, so I returned home.  Dropped off the dog, dropped off the car.  The morning was gone - I was starved!

Nothing in the frig, nothing open in town, I headed for the soda on the highway by the gas station about a mile down the road.  I ordered a typical dish: pollo casado - chicken, rice, beans, salad, plantain and whatever else they put on the plate.  As I am sitting there eating I see a semi truck stop and a young man get out of the truck.  The restaurant is on the highway but set back.  He has several bags with him and as I watch him.......I know I am going to buy him lunch.

He walks up to the restaurant, past me, goes inside and asks for a glass of water.  Then he comes out and sits on the steps close to where I was sitting.  In spanish I ask him where is he going.  He tells me Heredia - a city next to San Jose.  Then in English I ask him where did he come from.  He tells me Panama.  Then in my horrible spanish I ask him what was he doing there.  In his broken English he tells me his best friend recently died in a car accident in Panama, and the mother of the friend had asked him to go there and get his belongings.  I didn't ask for any details.  I just said I was sorry.  A minute or two passes before I ask him if I can buy him lunch.  For a moment he just looks at me, then gets up and introduces himself.  Mauricio.  I tell him he can have anything on the menu.  He ordered the same dish I had.

I asked him how old he was.  He told me he was 27, then showed me his Costa Rica driver's license.  I told him he was born the same year as my youngest son.  I asked him about his intense blue eyes.  He told me his mother's eyes were brown, she had told him the father's had been black.  He had no idea where his father was or any of his sisters or brothers.  His mother raised him alone.

For the next 45 minutes we just talked in our broken languages but clearly understood each other.  We talked about many things but the major topic was his desire to be a semi-truck driver.  He told me it takes years to get a license in Costa Rica, but in Honduras all you need to do is pay $50 and there you are - a licensed driver.  That was his dream and goal and that was where he was headed just before the friend's accident.

As we were finishing up, the bus to San Jose went flying by.  I told him I would take him to Jaco to catch the bus there.  I did, we exchanged e-mail addresses and then I gave him some extra money to help with the trip to Honduras.  We made a plan that when he makes his first trip from Honduras to Panama, he will contact me and we will meet for lunch on the highway.

Just another typical day in Costa Rica where the total unexpected......happens.

Pura Vida