January 26th, 2008
Barcelona, Spain

Unknown

This has got to be the most interesting encounter on my trip, by far.

I set out from the youth hostel off of La Rambla in Barcelona, and not more than a minute after leaving the building, I saw this woman in a group of people - I'm guessing homeless - standing and sitting next to a closed shop just off the street.

As all other times, I went over, asked her for a portrait, and she immediately dragged me off to find a good location.

She told me she was the preferred model for many a young photographer, partly due to her distinct resemblance to Tina Turner. "I guess that's just the way my mother made me!", she said and laughed. She was part Navajo, explaining her asian look, and was getting rather fed up with people calling her peruvian, chinese or thai.

She smiled flirtatiously, put her hand up to her cheek and a finger next to her lips, and posed for a second. Then moved on to leaning against a storewindow with jewelry, putting on a big grin, revealing missing teeth, and put her hand up to her cheek again.

"My mother always told me I looked cute when I did this!"

An innocent indian looking guy passed us, and she grabbed him and turned him around - "Excuse me! Can you take a picture of us? Thank you!", she went, and soon I was the model myself, with my unbrushed teeth, hat-hair and hint of a mustache. Oh so charming, I know.

I talked to her for a little while, then thanked her and gave her a couple of euros for her time, and she pulled my face down to give me a kiss on each cheek, before waving me off.


Now, this is where most of my stories stop. But not this one.

I decided to stay in Barcelona for another day (mostly to recover from a terrible hangover), and after having shot portrait #9, and just a few minutes before shooting #11, guess who I ran into in a small alley.

That's right, her.

We ended up in another little photoshoot, this time in front of a bus she thought was pretty, and in front of a restaurant - the waiter came up to us to, my guess is, tell us to leave, but she told him we were in the middle of an important shoot and were not to be interrupted.

As we were talking, she once again pulled my face down to plant two kisses, one on each cheek, but this time closer to the edges of my mouth.

As our conversation was coming to an end, I gave her another couple of euros for letting me take the pictures - I didn't need them, since I had already gotten this portrait yesterday, but thought it was only fair.

She told me she was off to go beg for some cigarettes, and as she pulled my face down to hers for the third time, she kissed me on the side of my lips, and then planted a kiss right smack in the middle.

What a woman.


Now, you're probably wondering why I didn't use the photos of her smiling or posing. Two reasons: they didn't come out as good (they were actually completely out of focus, thanks to my camera's focusing problems), and secondly, I think this hits harder. She had that smily, happy way of acting, but I had a sense that it was just a facade she put up for show, when talking to people. The photo I chose, was shot when I had just gotten my camera back from the indian guy who took a photo of us, and she wasn't prepared for it.


And just for good riddance:

The jewelry-store: [link]

Myself and my victim: [link] (Don't I look hot?)

The pretty bus: [link]