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                                                             Our Paradise
                                                          Ana Zahler             xiyvza@hotmail.com

OH... THOSE TICO STYLE ADDRESSES! II PART

Maybe, this is my first story about the tico style addresses. Addresses that

produce us gray hair, sleeplessness, confusions, and destroy our liver.

Sometimes, not even with a compass we find out the place we are looking for

because it is mandatory to find out the school, fire department or church

first in order to find out the right location.

I worked in sales for a funeral home. That week there were a few runners

(payments collectors). The boss gave me a lot of bills to charge. However,

he did not let me to organize a collecting route. So, I took all of the

papers and left the funeral home. The fist bill had an address in

Salitrillos of Aserrí, south of the capital city. So, I went there.

I asked the bus driver if the bus passed near The Pension of 1977 corner

store. He told me there was a bus stop right in front of it. What a

surprise when I read the address "two blocks south and two blocks north from

The Pension of 1977 corner store". That address wasn't an address! Every

body knows every body in a small town like that one. So, I asked for John at

he corner store. The clerk told me he knew where he lived and gave me the

address ... in tico style: walk on this mud street, until the end, do not

turn right because you would end at the famous Stone of Aserrí, you have to

walk until the house located in front of a jacaranda tree". I ask for the

description of the unknown tree.

The walk was very nice but I never imagined I had to walk a lot. I knocked

at the referred house. A sweet lady came out. I explained her the reason

for my visit. She told me John is her son but got merited and moved out. I

got a new Tyco style address: "go back where you came until a house with a

big gate and an ox cart in the porch, you have to take a small street next to

the house, my son lives in the house with red flowers on the fence".

What a way to go! Continue walking. In this new address, John's wife talked

to me. No way José. He didn't live there any more because he had a fight

with his wife. Now, he lived with his sister... so, I got a new tico style

address almost at noon: "continue walking up, turn left until the paved

road, continue right until the tamale factory, continue walking, cross the

bridge, John lives in the house crossing the bridge. During the walking I

wonder if I would have to look for him in a new address because he changed of

house more times than a gypsy.

I came to the new place where John lived. It wasn't necessary to look for

him anymore but I didn't find him out. His sister told me he was in the

funeral home at that moment ... paying the bill he owed us...

I know this paragraphs are very funny. This story is not a joke, it happened

in real life. Maybe experiences like this one made me to quit the sales job.

Because it does not matter how high the salary is, the tico style addresses

are a motive to quit the job.