My Friend Ignacio – “They robbed me!”

My Friend Ignacio – “They robbed me!”

Ignacio is a small, very humble Costa Rican man who I’m guessing he is about my age – 50 years old but looks older than he probably is because he’s outside under the Costa Rican sun for most of the day…

Ignacio has a cart from which he sells granizados and for about two years now, every time he sees me running in the park he always waves and gives me a big Tico smile.

I have never actually bought anything from him, he has just always been very friendly.

His cart has a big, solid chunk of ice sitting in the back protected from the sun… He scrapes the ice into a plastic cup, he adds the desired flavouring and then he drips that very sweet, condensed milk all over the top…

Eso es un granizado!

But one day I came across Ignacio in the park looking somewhat sad with an old supermarket shopping cart by his side…

“Que paso con su carreta Ignacio?” I asked him… What happened to your cart?

“Me robaron!” He said looking a little ashamed… They robbed me!

He explained that late one Sunday afternoon as the sun went down and as most of the park’s visitors were on their way home, a small group of loud aggressive adolescents – punks – surrounded him and made it clear that they were taking his cart and here was nothing he could do about it.

They swaggered off with his cart and Ignacio watched as his family’s primary source of income disappeared.

Once in a while he takes construction jobs where he earns what he describes as “mucha plata” (lots of money) which in his case is 10,000 colones per day, or US$20 for a full day’s construction work… On a good day with his cart he can earn $25 selling his granizados.

So under the circumstances I asked him if he would like me to help, explaining that sometimes I invest in small businesses and would he like me to become a silent investment partner in his “vending business” and his face lit up…

I stressed that this was a small business loan where he would borrow the money at a very attractive interest rate over the next 24 months and he agreed to pay me $10 per month.

I must confess to having been very forgetful about collecting the payments so far but that’s not Ignacio’s fault.

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Written by Scott Oliver, author of 1. Costa Rica Real Estate Scams & How To Avoid Them, 2. How To Buy Costa Rica Real Estate Without Losing Your Camisa, and 3. Costa Rica’s Guide To Making Money Offshore.

Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.