Friends, I will not bury the lede on this.
I am asking for donations for my daughter’s (hopefully) upcoming trip to Costa Rica. I myself have not been to Costa Rica, but I have heard wonderful things about the culture, the food, the nature and the beauty.
The closest I have been is San Pedro Sula, a city in Honduras. I went there at the invitation of a film producer who I edited a film for. Super nice people, a large disparity between rich and poor and a drive through ice cream shop guarded by a guy holding a machine gun.
It’s a true story. I was in an SUV with a child actor and her mother. Another actor, and two producers on the film. All the tourists were both desperate for ice cream (If you’ve ever been to Central America you know that it’s hot and humid, like Chicago in July and without the bratwurst) and really interested in the seemingly not trained security guard/soldier keeping an eye on the through traffic at the drive thru ice cream shop.
The child actor said something like, “look mommy, he has a gun.” And she was right. We all looked, with trepidation, at the man with the gun and the slightly ill fitting clothes.
The mother rolled down the window and pulled out her insta-matic snapshot camera and proceeded to frame up a photo. I mean why not? Right!
All the men in the SUV reacted with something like, “Holy crap, don’t look at him, roll up your window, OH MY G…”
Wait, the man is waving at us. And smiling. He’s waving and smiling. Hold on. He’s waving us OVER. He would like his picture taken. He said something in Spanish and waved again. The only Spanish speakers in the SUV were the producers. “He wants to have a picture with you.” They said to the mother and child actor girl.
I am pretty good with a camera, it was my course of study in college, and this seemed like an interesting opportunity to flex those muscles again. It had been a while.
“I’ll take it!” I said. And got out of the car with the mother and daughter.
“Chocolate or vanilla or swirl?” Asked the producer.
We all wanted swirl.
The man with the machine gun, waved over the mother and daughter. One stood on each side. The guard proudly posing in the center, and I was saying something like — “A little closer, smile.”
I released the shutter, and was prepared to head back to the SUV and inhale my swirl. It was hot, humid and heavy out there.
“He wants one more picture.” A producer said.
The man with the machine gun, repositioned so the mother was now in the middle. He casually handed her the machine gun and indicated that she should hold it up and smile.
So she did.
Somewhere in the archives is that photo. I hope all of you can have an experience like this one day. Where, you see, that just because someone has a job holding a machine gun on a 100 degree day with 100% humidity in black clothes outside a drive thru ice cream shop in a Central American country - it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take their picture.
If you’d like to help sponsor my kid’s trip — here’s the link.
And thanks.