Busking In Colombia

I had met Kevin in Taganga, near Santa Marta and we met again by chance during the Manu Chao concert in Baranquilla. He is as a sturdy guy (his nickname is 'gordo', meaning 'big' in english) and his green-brown eyes and white teeth were in stark contrast to his dark tanned skin. Working as a cook in Bogota for 12h a day with a meagre pay of 15$ wasn't quite enough for him, so with nothing to loose he started to travel around Colombia a few months ago. He had been fighting his way through the coast of Colombia by entertaining people in the streets, which sometimes meant running around with a neon green toy gun and red glasses and pretend to rob people. As a joke of course. His way with words also helped him in making people laugh and getting enough money for food and sometimes accommodation. I didn't have a place to stay after the concert and neither did he so we split the cost of sharing a very grimy and cheap motel room near the centre of the city. The fan didn't work, which meant that even when relaxing on the cheap foam mattress I was sweating all over. Plus the smell of the connected bathroom and our combined sweat was anything but pleasant. It didn't matter though, Kevin passed out after a few minutes and the loud snoring that followed didn't stop me from having a good nights sleep. The following day mainly consisted of relaxing and reading, however in the evening we headed out - he needed to earn some money as I had been paying for our food during the day and he definitely wasn't in it for the free ride. He had walked about the main plaza for a few hours while I spent my time talking to some of the artisans that were selling bracelets, necklaces, sandals for babies, incense, shells... you get the picture. As I talk to an old artisan with a tattoo similar to the one of Mike Tyson around his right eye I see a guy in the distance who's face seems familiar. He starts waving an open coconut at me and comes closer. "Hey maaan, you remember mee? In Taganga remember? You want some coconut? Help yourself maan, hold this for a minute." He says rapidly (and not in english), always putting extra stress on the vowels - kind of like he was mocking me a little bit. He passes me the coconut and his bag and he runs to a big sign on the other side of the road and starts to climb up to the top, I would have to mention again that this was at the main plaza and a big shopping centre was located nearby. This meant a lot of people started looking up at him hanging down from the big street sign, to me it seemed that he enjoyed the attention. He slid back down the thick metal tube and ran over the road to reach me sitting on the isle of the street. "Heey maan, wassup? My name is Kevin by the way in case you don't remember." He says, in the same hyperactive way and sits down next to me, grabs the coconut out of my hand and starts eating the white meat quickly. "Ah yes I do remember. Funny - I am just waiting for a friend who is called Kevin too." I reply to his energetic gestures, in that moment I see Kevin1 (for ease of understanding I am going to call the first Kevin I mentioned Kevin1 and the second Kevin2) approaching the isle in the centre of the road on which I was waiting. After introducing Kevin1 to Kevin2 one of the artisans, David, joined in on the conversation. It seemed that Kevin1 hadn't been very lucky with the people tonight and wouldn't have enough money for the hostel. However he had viewed the pictures in my camera and remembered that he saw some handstand pictures, he also knew that I could solve the Rubiks cube pretty fast. "You should go busking with us man - go make some money with your talent." Kevin1 says and describes his plan of going to different restaurants and praising me as 'the superman from germany'. "Sure man, let's do it." I reply after he had finished telling this idea of his. We - Kevin1, Kevin2, David and me - go off the first packed restaurant we see - a few blocks down the isle. On arrival Kevin1 introduces me with his loud and strong voice, he would do well as a commentator. "Tonight I present to you from the other side of the planet a man with incredible strength - we call him 'the superman from germany'." I do my normal handstand routine while Kevin1 and Kevin2 clap and energise the crowd, we had gotten their attention alright! "And nooow, you might think this is a stupid motherfucker. (he seemed to love that word and used it as much as he could, more as a compliment than an insult) However he has mastered the challenging Rubiks cube after years of practise in a monastery in the Philippines." He introduces my next act, exaggerating on all possible levels. The crowd didn't seem to mind, they enjoyed these little stories. "Ladies and Gentleman, witness this memorable moment as he will now solve it in no more than thirty seconds." Kevin1 continues, gesturing like a presenter with his arms and hands. I get out the rubiks cube and after showing it around and letting some members of the audience mix it up I solve it like Kevin1 had said: in under thirty seconds. "And now for a round of applause!" He shouts and starts clapping wildly. David started walking around the plastic tables of the restaurant to collect the donations. "Support the artist who has come all the way from distant Germany to perform for you lovely people." He adds and we leave the restaurant. I felt energised - I quite enjoyed that. We didn't make more than four or five pounds that night but that was enough for a nice meal for all of us. We didn't need more than that. It had gotten pretty late though so after devouring the rice with meat we head to the hostel, we get there at one in the morning. Only after repeated knocking of the metal door we manage to wake the doorkeeper and get our bags. However the doorkeeper felt that we had come too late and we should pay for another night at the motel. This caused a little fight and we ended up giving him the rest of the earnings of that night for him to let us out. I had kind of expected this, however Kevin1 had thought otherwise and it was obvious that it bothered him. Kevin2 had offered his place as a sleeping space so we start walking. "How much further is it man?" I say after an hour of walking, my bags were starting to get heavy and my back sore. "Not much maaan, just like teen minutes, maybe twenty." Kevin2 says and starts walking rapidly, making it difficult for the rest of us to follow with our weighty luggage. 40 minutes later we are still not there and still trying to keep up with Kevin2's fast pace. Kevin1 was seemingly getting tired, he wasn't the most athletic like I said and at some point he gives up and flings himself onto a little concrete flowerbed on the side of the road. "You go on guys, I give up. He has been saying "20min more" for too long now." He says and rests his head on his backpack. Only after a lengthy conversation we manage to motivate him to continue on. We walk by the side of the empty road, the sweat where the backpack was touching my body was starting to really disturb me. All of a sudden a taxi stops next to us abruptly. After a brief conversation which I was too tired to listen to we get into the taxi. Kevin2 and Kevin1 had managed to convince the taxi driver to take us for free. We get to Kevin2's house and at about four in the morning the four of us cram into his small bedroom. I feel like I am sleep walking as I blow up my sleeping mat and with not an inch of energy to spare I fall asleep.