Loupe

There is a small Taco shop outside my erstwhile office in Volkswagen. Given its vicinity to the office and the nice quality of food that it provides, you can see long queues standing outside this roadside stall at lunch time. Though being a vegetarian, I wasn’t able to savor most of the things served at the place; I was a regular customer, having something he prepared exclusively for me; Tacos filled with rice potatoes, chilies & beans.

Coming back to the subject, “Loupe” is the guy who owns this shop. Majority of people in Mexico don’t know English. Even many people who are working for big banks & are at considerably high positions face much difficulty speaking in English. But to my surprise, Loupe was more fluent in English than any other Mexican I have met till date. My project manager in Mexico also speaks good English, but he too wasn’t any match to Loupe. This was the fact which made me so comfortable going and having food at the place. Because I was sure that he would understand what exactly I need. There was something in his appearance which made me have a sense of familiarity with him. Though I never talked much to him, given his busy work conditions, we knew each other well due to my daily visits at the place.

He was so prompt in his work, that you could actually see the difference when he was not around. While he took hardly 10 minutes to serve to a queue of 10+ people, his assistant who would fill up for him in his absence would make you wait for ages. Given the liking for the food and the server too, my last day in Volkswagen was not that pleasant. I knew I wont be coming here any longer to have this food or to meet this guy. So, after the peak business time, I went and talked to him. I asked him for a photograph for which he readily agreed. I wanted to give something to him, just as a memento. Giving money seemed very impersonal to me. After a lot of thinking, I took out a 50 rupee note from my pocket (An Indian currency note) and handed over to him. I told him. “This is for you & it is from India”. He gave me a nice smile and accepted my gift. I too was content in giving him something which will hold some value and will be peculiarly related to me.

Its been around 3 months since this happened. I wanted to post this for a long time but never got enough time. Now that I am back in Mexico, I am planning to go to Puebla and meet him again and of course taste those Tacos once again.

You can see him at this post on my image blog.