THE TOP PHOTO is a huge mural you’ll see on the main drag as you drive toward the state capital 40 minutes down the mountainside.
The other photo is the individual in question. He is our town’s most notable character, a position I doubt he is aware of even though he’s been the topic of numerous artworks. He even hangs in galleries.
He is incredibly grungy. One wonders where he sleeps nights, if he even has a home. His clothes, his hat, appear to have been dredged from beneath the municipal waste dump
I do not know his name though I have spoken with him a thousand times.
He’s a sidewalk peddler, and what he peddles are straw fans, perhaps to cool your face on warm afternoons in spring, or to fan embers of a dying fire for our winter nights.
The mural has him smoking. I’ve never seen him smoking.
Here’s the routine: I’m sitting at a sidewalk table with Kindle and cafecito. Here he comes. Buy a fan, he indicates. He usually does not speak, just waves the string of fans and grunts a bit.
I say I already have purchased two, which is true, years ago. He replies that I need a third. I say no. He will continue pushing until I say the magic phrase: Maybe tomorrow. That always satisfies him, and he leaves.
For another shot of the fellow, go here.
Esteban Urbina, Ihuatzio
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Ms. Shoes: Doesn’t surprise me that you know his name, his town too. You are one piece of work. Thanks. I’ll just call him Steve.
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You know anything else about him? If so, please share.
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Quizá mañana… No wonder he keeps coming back to you.
Saludos,
Kim G
Boston, MA
Where we’re not sure how much use we’d have for straw fans.
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Kim: I’ve been telling him maybe tomorrow for years, but I never buy anything later. For him, tomorrow never arrives. He’s just not too swift, I think.
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I loved the B&W photos on the linked page. I know some of the people in the pics.
Saludos,
Don Cuevas
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Don Cuevas: Thanks. I know some of them too. One even sleeps in my bed.
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