An Israeli Boy in Playa Negra

One thing I'm going to command you to do is bring free stuff when you go on vacation. Especially if you go somewhere where the population is poorer than you are. You'd be surprised how happy and how much a sticker or flip flops can brighten a childs day.

So before we went down to Costa Rica we went to some surf shops and grabbed a bunch of stickers to give out to the locals in town. We'd give em away to people who hitchhiked with us. We'd give em away to people at the bar. But basically, they were for the kids.

So for the first couple of days we'd give out three or four stickers to each kid. You couldn't even imagine the smiles or the absolutely thankful expressions they would give you. There really isn't any purer look of joy than a kid who just got something. Especially a poor kid, they just look so excited.

Especially when he has nothing.

I think about the third or fourth day we were going to surf over at Playa Avellones. Playa means ‘beach' in Spanish. And, as we were on the way to the beach, we saw a couple of kids playing in the road, having fun. We stopped while a few other surfers talked to the kids.

It looked like they were giving out flyers. When we pulled up they told us about their parents restaurant up the road. The only place with authentic Israeli food in the area. We thanked them. We said we'd check it out and it was nice of them. It'd be a nice change of pace since we were tired of eating rice and beans and fish burritos.

Before we left we gave them some stickers, those two nice little boys. So then we go to surf for the day and it was just a perfect swell.

On the way back the next morning we see the sign for this Israeli restaurant. Allrighty then, and we go inside and check it out. Like everywhere else in Costa Rica you wait forever. Except for two people at the bar, we were the only ones in there. After about fifteen minutes the lady that was sitting up at the bar comes over, drops off a few menus and asks us what we want to drink.

15 minutes go by and we get out drinks. We quickly order food.

30 minutes go by and we get our food. That was the best damn hummus I've had in my entire life. It was fantastic. And we had these little fried ball things that were green in the middle. I don't know what they were called and I don't know what was in them, but it was the tastiest fried green thing I've ever had. I don't even remember what I had after that appetizer.

We finish up our food and relax, pounding back a few beers. As we're sitting there, the two boys who gave us the fliers stroll on in. And, they say “Oh, oh, oh, you ,you were the guys. We saw you yesterday. You were the ones who gave us the stickers.”

“Yeah, yeah, that was us. We gave you the stickers. This is your mom and pops place?”

“Yes, yes this is our parents restaurant.”

And then we ask them, “What did you do with the stickers?”

And they say “Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. We got chop.”

The three of us look at each other confused. “Chop? You mean you cut them up?”

He says, “No, we got chop chop, chop”

This kid pulls out a little CD case. He opens it. When he unzips the thing, out pops what looks like 500 stickers.

So, when he said chop he meant shop. The kid was taking all these stickers that the surfers, who were coming here to surf all these breaks, were giving to him. He was selling him back to all the surfers. To all the tourists that were coming through.

Ha.

Talk about entrepreneurship.

Big Fun!!

Mohawk Gringo