The Very Interesting Man

We decided to walk around San Telmo, which is another zone of Buenos Aires. Walking, walking, walking.... stopped to look at some art, started talking to the street vendors, sat down to have some "matte," Argentinian tea drunk in bowls with a straw that is actually a strainer, and the story of Ashkayana begins:

We met a man today of Indian descent, whether his story was completely true or not, we learned today that the human species is very adaptable and able to learn as much as we let it.

Ashkoyana does not know of his family, nor does he know when his birthday is. He figures, he might as well celebrate his birthday every day because it must be one of those days; "algun dia sera." A certain animal, of which I did not understand (one with fangs) took him in as an infant. The animal gave him milk from her tit, and here his childhood began. He began to climb trees and when it got cold he would get dirt and fromthe sun's energy, he used it as a blanket and would cover the dirt with grass. Ashkoyana grew up in the jungle, and you may ask "How did he get a name?" Well, when Ashkoyana came to the city of Buenos Aires people yelled in the Indian language "Here comes the black dog, Here comes the black dog." Ashko translates to dog, and yana translates to black, meaning black dog or "perro negro." Now, Ashkoyana's body is not like your typical human body, Ashkoyana has one hand shaped like one of a monkey's and his feet towards the top are shaped like bananas. They bcame this way because of his normality of climbing trees. Ashkoyana has no hair on his body, except for that on his head. He had learned to live one with nature but when he travelled to the city, he was very confused with the people and the way they acted with each other. When he was hungry, he took a watermelon (in other words, he stole) and climbed off into the trees with it. The quote on quote "civilized men" saw him stealing and take off into the trees and they began to shoot at Ashkoyana. He still has the scars from that day, but said he learned a lot that day. He has been in the city for 25 years and yet you will always see him in the same clothes every day, but because he is comfortable in those clothes. He has cut his hair, which was once knotted with plants and dirt (dreadlocks) He has also learned how to speak as well as make a living for himself. He is a street vendor and an artsy one at that! He finds spoons, forks; silverware and makes things like, necklaces, perfume bottles, people dancing, or anything that pops in his head. He appreciates the beauty there is in out world, lives one with nature and still likes to be in the mix of "civilization."

Comments

  1. Do you have any pictures of Ashkoyana? His hand or leg?

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  2. I will def check out Bren's pictures to see if we did!

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