Morning cup of coffee number 21

I love morning coffee conversations with Otoniel. We started talking about piggy banks this morning because there was one on the television or something. He told me that he liked piggy banks. He told me a story of when he was younger and he was very poor and had a lot of debt because he hardly made any money where he was working. He really wanted to buy a chain saw because he knew there was a lot of work that he could get with one. He started putting any money he could spare in his piggy bank. He finally decided he would “kill the pig” and if he had half of the money for the chain saw he would get the other half some how, through loans or something. When he counted the money, he was only missing 300 colones (~500 colones = $1). Alcia’s brother lent him the 300 colones and he bought the chain saw. He worked for from 6:00-2:00 every day and when he got off at 2:00 he and his brother would go work with the chain saw cutting down posts to make fences for people. He said that after a few months he had paid off his debts and eventually bought a plot of land to build a house. After work, Alicia would go with him to help build the house every day. He said they dug holes in the sides of the ground and put candle in the holes so that they could work at night and that is how they built their house. I laughed and said all of this from a chainsaw. He smiled and said “Tengo mucha fe en los chanchitos.” Almost as good of a quote as when we were talking about politics and farming and he told me what his grandfather had said about one day everybody would have pockets full of money and nothing to eat. I can’t get over that one. What a perfect, simple summary of everything I am studying and passionate about.