The Gringo Clown
By Dave Ginger
In 2008 I spent a few days at a conference in the city of Iquitos, Peru. There is a broad walkway along the Amazon River known as “El Malecón“. In the evenings, when there is cool breeze from the river, people from poor neighborhoods gather there to enjoy themselves. Each night I’d go there to entertain myself and to see the local culture. One night I saw that there was a crowd gathered in a circle and three young men were in the middle of the circle acting a comedy. I stood behind the crowd and saw the antics of these young actors. I did not understand all that they said, but the infectious laughter of the crowd also made me laugh. At the end of the act, one of them passed around a hat to solicit money.
Then one of the young men saw me, and that I was the only gringo in the crowd. He held out to me the hat full of money and gestured to me: “Senór, por favor”
I looked behind me pretending as if I thought he was talking to someone else and then I turned and asked in Spanish: “Me? Are you passing the hat for me? “
“Sí señor”, he replied and held out the hat again.
I knelt and held out my hands and said in Spanish: “Ahhh, muchas gracias senór, I really need that money!”
Then everyone laughed! This went on for several minutes and I did antics with the young men who were a little frustrated with me, but everyone in the crowd thought I was part of the act! Finally after doing this for a while, I contributed some money and shook hands with the young actors. I really surprised them but I think they all had a good time as much as I did.