One table for two

In Valencia in the morning

At 2:30 a.m. I drive east into the night. To Valencia. There, where centuries ago El Cid and his faithful fought for freedom. The highway seems to have been built just for me. I’m alone with my rental car, holding myself upright behind the wheel. 360 km.

On the outskirts of the megacity, I enter a small breakfast restaurant and secure the back table. “You can’t sit there,” a waiter scolds me, “the table is for two!” “Don’t panic,” I reply impassively, “my date will be here soon!

Alex Sampedro appears on the doorstep right on time. Millions of Latin Americans know the singer and pastor from countless YouTube films or concerts. Now it completes my table and the waitress can relax a bit.

“Someone called me from Lima and told me you were a crazy man,” Sampedro says of me “but a crazy man in a good way!” I’m glad he followed up with that sentence. I flip up my laptop and press the speed button.

“Alex, we need you at the Youth Festival in April 2023!” I’ll get right to the point.

“You can count on me. I will try to be there. Diospi Suyana I want to see!”

There is not a word about the fee. Why should you? If Alex Sampedro were to be on the big stage with us in Curahuasi, he would be a madman, like me. But of course in a good way! /KDJ (A thank you to Jesús Hurtado, Nelsa Zolezzi, Doris Manco and many in the background in Peru and Spain. They made the meeting in Valencia possible).

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