Street vendors

You see them at all the peaje’s (tollbooths) and at selected semafaro’s (stop lights) selling anything from sunglasses to bags of mango. Dozens of them walking between cars trying to sell their wares. It amazes me that when things move so slow in Costa Rica, these guys can move in record time for a sale.

Imagine this, your sitting in line at a peaje and a guy comes up to your car with a board full of sunglasses. You have 1-2 minutes to pick out the shades that you want and pay for them before you come to the end of the line. Who can do this? Who can pick out and pay for a pair of sunglasses in 2 minutes? I may be a bit extreme, but this process takes me at least 20 minutes. These guys must be selling some or they wouldn’t be there but I ask again, who can do this?

Ok another one, the guy with all the cell phone parts strapped to his body, I see these guys everywhere trying to sell you parts for your cell phone. They have covers, car adapters and other various parts. You have at most 2 minutes to decide which part goes to your cell phone while moving along in the car. I wonder if anyone ever actually gets the right part in that limited amount of time. Even if I wanted a part or accessory to my cell phone, I can’t imagine being able to decide which part I wanted before the light turns green.

The fruit guys are easy. You can get great deals on fruit and veggies in these lines and often times I do buy melons or peppers while waiting in line. You can definately find these at a better price than you would in the grocery store.

Costa Rican’s can be fast at somethings. Like Ramiro said in an earlier post, just get in front of one at a semafaro and see how quick to draw they are when the light changes.