When I first arrived to Costa Rica I was astonished to see vendors at major traffic intersections selling their wares to the passengers of waiting cars.  I now know that this is common practice throughout Latin America.  However, the street vendors in other countries like Nicaragua seem to be considerably more aggressive and that can be a real put-off.  Intermixed with the vendors are the beggars, but that is another story.  Sitting in your car waiting for the light to change, you can buy almost any type of cell phone accessory (which makes sense since Ticos are absolutely obsessively wild about their cellulars), CD holders (you know, the kind you put above your sun visor), toys, DVDs, CDs, all kinds of food (for those of you with the munchies), sunglasses, hats and I could go on and on and on.  I recently purchased a cell phone charger at the busy intersection that I pass through every day.  I didn’t have the money at the time, so the vendor just let me have it and said (in Spanish), “don’t worry, pay me next time.”  What service!  That would never happen in Nicaragua! There are also the quasi-vendor/beggars that will take coupons out of the newspaper and give them to you for a couple coins (or magazines that they get from who knows where).  The ones I really like are the guys that will take fronds from a certain green plant (not sure which) and right there before your very eyes make a grasshopperish looking insect for a small “donation.”  These guys are quite talented.  I often wonder how much these vendors rack up in a given day?  It is actually pretty hard (and somewhat demeaning) work if you think about it.  Standing there for hours on end with the heat of the tropical sun beating down on you.  They basically turn themselves into walking stores with their merchandise displayed in ingenious manners all over their bodies.  It is entrepreneurship in its rawest form. I guess if Package Costa Rica ever goes south, there is a place for me at a traffic light somewhere deep in the city.  Hopefully, the Latinos wouldn’t mind for a gringo to move into their turf.  Maybe I could sell fake autographed pictures of Barack Obama, since he seems to be so popular around the world….hmmm…..not a bad idea.

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