This may not interest many of you on CRT but I had an awaking call this weekend. With that as an into, I would like to ask the members on this forum….. especially the ones who reside in CR…how is the economy there. Are the stores on Avenue Central bristling with business? Are the malls packed with shoppers? What is the average hotel occupancy?
I have not been there for some time so I have no idea just how the worldwide economy has had an effect on CR.
Many years ago during the mid 1970’s, the housing market went bust creating a horrible recession from which I went bankrupt in my building business. Thanks to tricky dicky Nixon, congress and the Vietnam war…this country fell into a dismal situation. Interest rates were in the upper double digits and gas prices were exploding.
Although I had been to CR previously, I wondered if I would ever be able to return. Just before my bankruptcy papers were filed, I maxed my only credit card left ($1,000 credit line) and used some of it to buy an airline ticket Thanks to a back room poker game I hit on about seven or eight hundred additional bucks and said Phuck it….I’m headed below the border again.
When I arrived in CR I stayed in a hotel on Avenue Central. It no longer exists but the rates were damn cheap. I had a lot of jingle in my pockets and felt like a world class traveler. I felt free from the business despair that I left in the states. I had lost my business, my house and a lady I was engaged to. I had just about nothing except for the borrowed and gambling money on my person.
The interesting thing was after only a couple of days in SJ, I did not see any real misery. Yes, the ‘green revolution’ kicked off in the 1970s when world coffee prices dropped due to oversupply, and Costa Rica plunged into economic problems. But from my perspective, businesses appeared to do okay. Even then there were street people but the locals were friendly, the outdoor markets flourished…. and walking around at 2 AM was easy and safe. The lady ticas were indeed that….lady like and dressed in church-like attire. $20. went a long way in an overnight liaison with not only a gorgeous sex partner but a polite female to boot. The hotel breakfast was included in the $12. a night price.
I stayed for just over two weeks and would have longer but I had to return to remove my furniture from my repossessed house.
Aside from those yonder years I was again awakened to just how bad our economy is. As some of you know, I usually go to malls on some weekends but just about always on Veterans’ Day and Memorial Day. Just to get out but to also seek out fellow veterans.
Yesterday and today I went to two malls. Few cars in the parking lots and when I entered the mall I was astounded by how few people there were. Yesterday, perhaps about 30 to 35 % of the usual traffic. Today, maybe 20%. (mid day). Very few in the food court and only a couple in the sitting areas. No veterans. This was creepy since most of the Memorial events were cancelled due to a tropical storm predicted to hit the pits of Jax tonight.
I spoke with several merchants in the malls I visited. Talk about a depressed bunch. No smiles and hardly any customers. Jewelry stores that use to have 3 to 4 workers now only have one or two. The merchandize is a lower grade also. At one of the smaller clothing stores two of the workers were playing cards. I only saw one security person as I walked most of the mall. It’s sad.
Another thing. I just cannot get use to the mannequins in the department stores. They either have no face or are without a head …or they have pen stripe for facial features. In my younger years, mannequins were almost human like and were very attractive. Hell, old circus would have taken several home with me just to lust on….but that is another story. Geezzz…has political correctness taken over the mannequin manufacturers….or is it a price thing. Whatever, I miss those sexy and nicely dressed statues in the store.
Damn, I was in okay spirits until I wrote this crap. Of course I’m usually somber on Memorial Day. I miss some soldiers that did not make it back with me from Vietnam. Unfortunately, too many brave men and women have been lost since WWII in wars that should not have been. Personally, when the next conflict occurs….why don’t we just send the congress over to fight and leave the rest of us the hell alone.
Best to all of you and family.
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