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A walk through the streets of San José can feel like a movie with people singing out numbers and names of products in hopes of enticing a buyer.

In the Plaza de la Cultura, Claudio makes his own music that combines a mixture of sanding, beat boxing and foot stomping.

“I bring the sound of happiness,” Claudio said. “It’s like cumbia.”

The artist makes hand painted glass plate souvenirs for tourists and locals. Crowds watch him turn ordinary round glass pieces to statements of Costa Rican culture.  It’s a craft he says he learned from the street.

“My grandfather taught me to draw, but the two are very different things” he explained.  “I learned to paint in the streets.  I learned from many people who all have different techniques.”

His skill has taken him around the country and the world.  Claudio says people bring him to their house to paint different projects.  He also worked for a Norwegian cruise company.  During the day he was a wine expert, but the rest of the time he painted designs on the ship such as a big bear.

However, Claudio says there is no place he would rather be than in the streets in the open space using his big personality to interact with people.

Down the street, José Herran spends all day painting pictures of scenes from Costa Rica.  Herran is from the BriBri culture in Talamanca.  However, he calls San José home.  It was here in San José that he learned to paint.

Like Claudio, Herran says he loves the streets, and finds it relaxing to paint outside.  However, the economy has made it so he doesn’t make as much as he did in the past.

He sells his large creations for 15,000 colons and his smaller ones for 3,000 colons.  Thats' about $30 down to $6.

“It’s a very cheap price,” he says. 

Despite the bargain, Herran says he has a hard time selling his large pieces and that more people will take a small one.  Locals recognize the deal more, he said, and they are his best customers, and not tourists.

Claudio has the same luck.  He says after painting all day, he may sell two or three pieces.

Still this doesn’t stop his mood.  In 15 minutes he can create a custom design for 4,000 colons.  An extra 1,000 will buy the customer a stand. 

The 15 minutes ends like it started with Claudio sanding, beat boxing and foot stomping.  Then he assembles the glass pieces and sends the customer off with a good day greeting.

“If you need anything else, I’m here in the street,” he said.


Post-election protests result
in 7 dead and at least 61 injured


Venezuela's chief prosecutor says seven people have been killed in widespread protests following acting President Nicolas Maduro's narrow victory in Sunday's presidential election.
 
Attorney General Luisa Ortega said 61 people were injured in the post-election demonstrations, while 135 people have been arrested. Ortega did not give details about the deaths or injuries or how they occurred.
 
Supporters of opposition leader Henrique Capriles took to the streets Monday after Venezuela's election commission declared Maduro, the late president Hugo Chavez's handpicked successor, winner of Sunday's vote.
 
Maduro was reportedly elected by a razor-thin margin of 50.7 percent to 49.1 percent for Capriles, who is the governor of Miranda state. Capriles has refused to recognize the results, demanding a full recount and urging his supporters to protest the outcome peacefully.
 
Monday night, demonstrations turned violent as Capriles followers banged pots and pans and burned trash bags as they marched through the streets of the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, demanding a recount. They were confronted by police, who fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse them. Opposition protests were also reported in several provincial cities.
 
Maduro has responded to the unrest by accusing the opposition of seeking a coup. He said Tuesday that he will not allow demonstrators to hold a march planned for Wednesday in Caracas.
 
"You, the yellow candidate," said Maduro in reference to Capriles, "you are the one that has provoked all of this for not respecting the results, because of your whim. . . .  You are responsible for all of this."
 
Capriles says his campaign has received more than 3,200 complaints of irregularities in the election.


Highway closed again


Work on the General Cañas autopista again will mean that the westbound highway lanes will be closed from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. though Thursday morning. Crews are putting the finishing touches on some barricades. The detour will take motorists through  Lagunilla and Barreal de Heredia to return to the highway at Mall Real Cariari.