My Good Friend, "Chili Pepper" . . the Street Musician in San Jose Central with Only One String on His Guitar. .

I have been living here in the Central Valley area of Costa Rica on and off for over 10 years now. I am in love with this country! One of my best couple of things that I enjoy doing is to people watch and to make new friends. I love the energy of San Jose Central, especially around the Central Market. For those of you who have not visited downtown San Jose, the "Mercado Central" has been here since 1880! It is huge. . a square city block. All under one roof and filled with sodas (diners) and other little shops that sell everything from tomatoes to spices, from meats to fish, from coffee to mops & from nuts to bolts! Everything that one needs to live, you can purchase at the Mercado Central. Think of it as a Walmart. . with a Latin twist!

The walk from my home to downtown takes about 20 minutes or so. The air is always filled with strong aromas of coffee and street food. Thousands of people. . going to work. . running errands, carrying boxes and bags of who-knows-what! The hustle and bustle of a big city. Crazed flurry surrounding me, front to back. . left to right. I'm smack dab right in the middle of organized chaos. This is the big city, and today, I am searching for a couple of interesting interactions. Perhaps a cup or two of some of our signature Costa Rican coffee and, of course, a conversation or two! I always need to practice my Spanish and my visiting downtown San Jose gives me that platform to do just that. "Yo pienso que cuando tengo 95 anos, mi espanol estara perfecto!" I will let you 'google translate' that!

On any given day, there are many street musicians performing for lunch money! Some of them are past the "street musician" phase of life. They are indeed professionals. One group that I see almost every day always are performing very close to the "Teatro Nacional" or "National Theatre" in the center of town. Their little band is made up of three guitar players, one drummer (using a 5-gallon bucket for his drum), a singer or two and a saxophone player. They are so good that they draw a large crowd every time they play. They also sell their CD's for c4,000, about $6.50 or so. I have two of their CD's and listen to them all the time at home.

On the other end of the scale is my friend, Chili Pepper. Don't know how he got his name but that's what they all call him. He used to sit on the ledge that borders the Mercado Central just to the right of the entrance as you're coming in from the main walkway. His tip jar was always filled! I think he lived very well. With that said, he couldn't sing a lick. And his guitar was missing 5 out of the 6 strings. AND, that darn string was always out of tune! So was he!

But, he always had a smile on his face. He always sang his heart out. He was so proud of his performances and we were proud of him! There were days that it was raining out and he didn't make it to his spot. The music was missed and it just didn't seem the same without little Chili Pepper.

One Christmas Holiday season a few years back, I decided to return to the USA for a couple of months. I returned to Costa Rica in mid January. I was indeed looking forward to starting up my walks again from my home close to Sabana Park to the downtown area. I missed the aromas, the music and the people. It was great to be back. .

I finally arrived in the Mercado Central area, turned the corner and I didn't see Chili Pepper. I didn't hear that out-of-tune string. . No Chili today! It wasn't raining. . so sunny! He never missed a day. He may have been on a break, so I decided to step into the market and visit Carlos, the owner of "Soda Carlos". Chili and I used to go in there on his break for breakfast a couple of days a week and talk about what songs he was going to sing when he returned to his spot.

Carlos saw me walking in, poured me a cup of coffee and welcomed me back to Costa Rica. He sat down and immediately I knew something was wrong. His face was long and somber. He teared up just a little. .

On the day before Christmas, Chili Pepper was walking home from downtown and was hit by a car. He didn't survive the accident. What a terrible thing to happen to such a nice little guy. His smile brightened up the days of hundreds of people. He'll be missed.

After Carlos told me the bad news, he pointed to the wall next to the seat where Chili Pepper always sat. On that wall hung the little guitar that Chili Pepper played. It still had the one string attached. .

Chili is gone, but his memory lives on.

If you're ever in the downtown area of San Jose, stop by the Mercado Central and find "Soda Carlos". He speaks good English. Ask him about little Chili Pepper and he'll tell you all about him and he'll, no doubt, show you his little one-stringed guitar hanging on the wall right where Chili used to enjoy his coffee in the morning hours. .

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