edit

PROFILES

Posted by Erik Frey Fri, 25 Mar 2005 07:08:00 GMT

During my first few days here I thought I had identified some general categories among the people I had met. While at first the categories held, I found characters of such vast variety that I quickly realized there were more exceptions than rule. Nonetheless, here are a few roles that seem to have some consistency:

THE PARTIER

On my first night, Jean took me on a tour of the local barrio in San Jose. He was here because he’d lost all his belongings (including his passport) somewhere in a beach-town near Tamarindo. He didn’t seem to care too much; after all, there were bars in San Jose. In a way I admired his sense of abandon.

He wanted to buy groceries, and knew enough Spanish to corner hapless locals with “DONDAY STA SUPERcensored”. He bought a whole pineapple and a six-pack of Imperial. I bought bottled water.

The next day I stopped in my room in the afternoon and found him collapsed in his bed. I asked him what he’d been up to and he groaned “uhhh… ladies night” before turning over and passing out.

THE WANDERER

Everyone out here partakes in this role, but some more than others. I met Dan at Gringo Pete’s in La Fortuna. He was cooking up some French toast and giving advice to other travelers about the local spots. He had an intimate knowledge of the area and was happy to help out anyone with a question.

I spent some time with Dan and learned his story. He spent the last three years traveling around Central and South America, funding his travels by working nine weeks out of each year as a guide for school kids. His pack was the size of a book bag, with a few changes of clothes, a bottle of shampoo, a book, and a rubber chicken.

When I asked him what his plans were, he said flatly, “What do you mean plans?” I replied “You know, for the future.” He thought about it for a moment and replied “Well… I plan to continue doing what I’m doing right now.” When I left Dan, he was on his way to Nicaragua because he’d heard of a place to stay in Ometepe that charged a dollar a night, with free coffee.

THE SETTLER

THE SETTLER is often THE WANDERER, except they’ve stopped wandering. I met Jen, a Brooklyn native, who came here a few years ago to visit. Four days before she was slated to go home, she refunded her return ticket.

One evening, I returned from the San Luis waterfalls and found her sitting at the front porch of the Pension Santa Elena, giving the proprietor a haircut. After she finished, she was beaming and exclaimed “What a productive day! I gave three drum lessons and a haircut.”

THE WHAT-DO-I-DO-NOW’ER

I saw a lot of these guys in San Jose. They had claw-like grips on their guidebooks, and they all shared the primary concern of HOW to get to SOME PLACE at SOME PARTICULAR TIME.

Fortunately, the WHAT-DO-I-DO-NOW’ER has a short half life – they either become WANDERERS, PARTIERS, or simply grow miserable and go home.