A Cobbler. What comes to mind? A tempting baked dessert, or a person whose profession is the making and repairing of shoes? On a Google search of images I turned up fruity results over shoe makers 7 to 3. How many Cobblers do you know? The art has been confined to the cold soulless walls of factories. Why should one person take the time to make a good pair of shoes worthy of future repair, when dozens of people can make millions of shoes that can be easily thrown away. New shoes everyday!
There are a few Cobblers in Puriscal. It seems that they do pretty decent business too. I happened to meet one of them thanks to the strap of my little red bag. When it broke, I was disappointed, the bag is nothing really special, but it suits my needs perfectly. Why should one stitch keep it off my shoulder? So I popped in to see Fernando Zuñiga Cespedes, on the West side of the Mercado and asked him if he could repair it. He was at first reluctant, after all, his business is shoes. However, once I assured him that I was not fussy about the thread matching exactly, he obliged my request. A few days later, I picked up the bag and the strap was as sturdy as ever. I was thrilled.
When I lived in the US, a broken bag meant a reason to shop. There are so many places right around the corner offering great merchandise for next to nothing. Who would ever try to search out a Cobbler, unless of course it was piping hot with a dollop of ice cream? Sadly, this trade in first world countries is simply not "a la mode." I feel incredibly lucky to be able to have these years in Costa Rica, while it is still reminiscent of days of yore. I have acquired a great appreciation of the art of making everything last until it is completely used. It is still the way people live here. I hope it lasts a while.
1 comment:
You'd be surprised, the last few years of crushing economy has seen a dramatic upswing in the amount of rebuilds, repairs, and squeezing the last drop of life from anything you have left. People have suddenly begun to realize why their Depression-era grandparents never thew away anything. It's become so prevalent that the retail chains are beginning to suffer. Which of course means they're laying people off and the cycle just continues. But it seems that whatever new economy staggers back to life from this debacle will more closely resemble that of the 1940's than the 1980's. As such, it's a pity I'm not a bit closer to your cobbler--I need the soles on my boots redone..
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