~ Ellsworth Huntington
A look at San Luis's Beach, Cumaná
There's approximately 6 million Venezuelans living abroad. Some of them were already there for jobs and other opportunities. But thought be told the rest are just escaping from the regime. You can find a lot of people trying to fit in a new culture. There's also a fair share of scumbags doing us dirty. Giving us bad reputation. But that's something that can't be controlled. Not like foreigners are always well-behaved wherever they arrive.
Sometimes, the requests that come through Instagram are interesting. There are people trying to find the right took for their music endeavor. It flatters me they even consider my work. And although the prices scare them sometimes, truth be told, I'm not even on a 10th of the price a luthier should be asking for an instrument. This is particularly true for people in my hometown. I can without a doubt say that this is not the poorest city in the country but one with the poorest mindsets.
People around here want everything for free. They complain once they listen to a price and the list of these things go up.
People who have left this place often long for it. Of course, after a week here, they would complain about everything form the sun to the smell, going up to the lack of activities and places to do things. It is a small city. It has its charms, but it's downsides outweigh all of it.
Why do I say all of this nonesense? I'm trying to get to a point to make anyone reading this understand the nature of a request I got. Back on my rants, I mentioned a potencial client who was thinking about something that had nothing to do with my work. I still don't make cases for instruments. I hope to make then in the future. However, I thought this commission was lost of that fact.
To my surprise, he came back to my DMs a weeke later asking for payment methods. I sent him my account number and the next day he had already made a deposit for half the price of a basic Venezuelan Cuatro. So, I put everything else on hold and started working on this project.
The weird thing about the project is this:
I went to San Luis's Beach in Cumaná to fetch some sand. This guy misses his hometown and I bet he spent a lot of time of these sands. He asked me if I could put of it on the instrument. I wasn't sure about how to do this, but hey, the sale had been made so I agreed and carried on.
My decision was to glue some sand to the label. I might put some on top of the instrument where it won't make any fuzz of cause trouble. But it got me thinking. Do people actually believe things are like they left them?
This infatuation with memories is crazy. Things are always fading into time. Around here it's worse since things do break down and can't be fixed. I guess his thoughts are about getting something out of the land and keep it close. A token that call back home. It is very romantic to be honest.
And I guess that as long as the requests aren't too crazy, I might lean onto them. However, I think this might get out of hand. There was a mosaic at International Airport Simón Bolívar. It became a trend for people to break the thing and take a piece of it with them. Airport security did nothing about it. Half the mosaic has been destroyed. And people's stupidity can't be higher. That thing is supposed to be a welcoming flag for anyone coming through that gate. Instead people transformed it into a trophy. They take a piece of the country and of its art. It's similar to taking an animal's head to exhibit it. The worst part is that no one abroad would care about such a relic. It's a thing to brag among Venezuelans.
Sand isn't scarce, but I don't think I'going to do much of these requests. It might be illegal. Who knows?
On the other hand, I have an important announcement as well. One of our cultural spaces has been reactivated and a lot of activities have been planned for this month and next month. One of these activities was given to yours truly.
The idea is to make an exhibit to talk about instrument construction and show my instruments. I haven't worked out all the details but I'm thinking about have some special guests to talk and showcase some if the history of the craft in this city.
I'm thrilled to have this chance and who knows it might lead to new clients and some potential networking to get to other places.
It is going to be sweet! And of course, the aftermath of the activity will find its way into HIVE.
And on that note, I'm signing off. I hope your weekend has brought you some respite from your routine and has given you the rest needed to tsxleihour challenges next week. See you next time!
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You can find me at discord as bertrayo#1763