What started out as just a normal walk for me a few months ago allowed me to cross paths with a very special man, who has since become a good friend. I met Enrique Mendez while I was walking down a dirt road not too far from our house. He was on a motorcycle and stopped to say hello and introduce himself. Enrique sells empanadas and juice off the back of his bike. After the introductions were out of the way, he gave me an empanada and a cup of juice. I explained to him that I had no money on me, and he said, "no, this is a gift for you'. All in Spanish of course, since Enrique does not speak English at all. I told him to stop by our house some time and we would buy some empanadas from him.
Well, that day started our friendship. Eventually he got to meet John as well, and now we buy empanadas from him a couple times a week and if he ever sees us out walking, he stops and gives us each an empanada and juice. The other day when Enrique stopped by, our friend Ian was here, who is bilingual. So finally I was able to communicate with him a little more than normal. Ian discovered that Enrique was originally from a small town about an hour north of us called Barbascal. He now lives in La Libertad. A good portion of the money he makes from selling his empanadas goes to help the elderly people that live in his home
town, usually by bringing them large bags of rice and other things they need. I asked them if they had many children in the town and he said yes, about 100 or so. We then explained to him about John playing Papa Noel at Christmas time and possibly we could make a visit there. He readily agreed, but said he would like us to see the town first. We set up a time for him to meet us at our house on the coming Thursday and he took John, Ian and I to Barbascal on the bus.
Ian and Enrique were able to chat on the way, so we were able to learn much more about him. Enrique is a huge advocate for the elderly people in his town, in fact all of the people there. He has a foundation that is working on building a place for the older population to be sure their needs are being met. Already I am seeing the hidden gem of a person underneath this man that sells empanadas. We stopped in the city of Colonche, which is just a few minutes before Barbascal. Enrique wanted us to see the church there, which was built in the 1700's, totally from wood (Guayacan- which is a very durable and termite-proof wood). It was gorgeous! We hopped back on the bus and headed down the road to our destination. Barbascal sits on top of a hill and overlooks the beautiful countryside. We walked a couple blocks to a community center (which Enrique was instrumental in getting built) and inside was about 20 elderly people sitting around a table working on a art project. We found out that Enrique had informed them that we were coming and asked them to be there to greet us. One by one, each of these people came up and greeted, hugged, kissed, shook hands with all of us. It was an unbelievable experience. Enrique explained to them what we wanted to do at Christmas time. They were all so warm and welcoming. From there Enrique took us to his brother's house where his sister-in-law had prepared us a wonderful meal of chicken, rice and plantains. We were given a tin bowl of water and a bar of soap to pass around the table and wash our hands first. To say the food was delicious is an understatement. Enrique told us they do not normally eat this type of meal and that it was prepared especially for us being there.
The experience of this entire day was so overwhelming. It was a very special day, for sure. So, tomorrow Enrique transforms back into The Empanada Man. But his good will and giving nature to the people of his country, of his home town, continues. Papa Noel will be making a visit to Barbascal at Christmas time and we look forward to seeing all the smiling faces, young and old alike, again.
