An Impromtu Haircut

At the last minute Steve decided to get a haircut.  We were on our way somewhere when we walked by a peluquería when SB decided to get a cut.  Little did I know that I would end up having a particularly wonderful time.  And I feel compelled to share the story.

A barber who wasn’t working stood up and gestured for me to sit on the couch where he had just been reading the paper.  I didn’t need the entire couch so I said “sientese” and patted the couch indicating that it was ok for him to sit next to me.  He did.  We had the most pleasant conversation.  In spanish.  He didn’t know a word of english.  He was delighted that I could converse and was patient with my frequent pauses while I translated my thoughts and put them on my tongue.  We discussed Argentinians vs Peruvians, male pattern baldness in some North Americans, my fear about my upcoming trek up the Inca trail to Machu Picchu and how he’d never been there even though he grew up in Cusco, and his impression of people from the US (that they always have a guide and don’t try to speak spanish).  Oh how I wished that my vocabulary was large enough to ask him about deeper subjects - the oil spill, corruption in Peru, the health of the planet.  When it was time for me to leave he smiled very broadly and agreed with me when I said that I very much enjoyed speaking with him.

This 20 minute impromptu conversation made my trip to Peru.  He wasn’t asking me to buy something, begging, or offering me a piece of crap supposedly made by hand; it was a human to human interaction of the most basic kind.  Conversation.  He was grateful for my spanish and I was grateful for his patience and curiosity.  It’s the impromptu things like this that are making this trip unbelievably incredible.