One of the greatest Christmas presents my wife and I received happened during my tenure in Costa Rica, about 20 years ago.
I taught at a school in the idyllic suburbs of San Jose, but my wife worked downtown and walked to work through the chaotic streets everyday. While there was minimal violence in the city, stealing was an unfortunate part of life. She would wear simple clothes and carry her bags close to her. Normally, she didn’t wear jewelry.
On her way to work, there was one man who did not make her feel comfortable. While he had never spoken to her or threatened her, he would stare at her the entire time she was on the street, pacing slightly toward her and smiling until she turned the corner towards her office. She assumed he was a cuidacarro, a ‘parking attendant’, since he carried a wooden stick. The sticks were used to fend off car thieves, and to bang the cars when someone did not pay. Regardless, my wife would often cross to the other side of the street and tighten her grip on her bag when she saw him. She thought he did not look safe.
Right before Thanksgiving, I had fixed my wife’s necklace that held her engagement ring, one that my grandmother had given me. My wife was excited to have the ring back as we planned to marry the next summer, and decided to wear it for the next few days.
A week before Christmas, while walking on the way to work, my wife felt a something from behind. In an instant, an arm grabbed her bag, and tugged her necklace free. The bag dropped, but the man ran down a side street. She yelled, and sprinted after him, nearly getting run over as she crossed the street. The thief turned left, then right, and she lost sight of him. She had lost him.
As she turned onto a street, swelling with tears, there was the thief, stopped, with a parking stick pointed at his chest.
“Damelo (give it to me)”, said the man.
The thief handed over the necklace, and then sprinted. My wife, stood there. The man with the stick walked over to her. A smile came across his face. The cuidacarro.
In Spanish my wife exclaimed, “Thank you, thank you. How can I ever repay you?
He just smiled and shook his head. “Con mucho gusto.”
My wife got her necklace back, and we both learned something that Christmas.
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Fear comes from the unknown and good is always where you least expect it. This combination is a gift we remember every year.
Building Cairns 