Farewell My Kushka…fe

I didn’t have the habit of studying in a Café but in order to avoid the slow and unstable Internet connection in Casa Elena, our whole room migrated across the street and found a new base area for our daily activities, which was the small but sweet Kushka…fe. Although the time we spent in Kushkafe was short, we managed to make friends with the waiters and waitresses who were interesting and nice people.

Alexandra was the first to make friends with them. After talking to the waiters and waitresses, she soon got to know them by name. When Jiayi, Sydney and I ran into Alexandra in Kushkafe for the first time, she immediately introduced us to her new friends and told them that we all spoke Spanish. From then on, we came here more and more often, sometimes on a daily basis, and started to make friends with the staff there ourselves. I had listened to the Argentinian waiter talking about their his first day of work; I had witnessed one waitress introducing star fruit to Alexandra and offered to make a juice for her that was not on the menu; I had joked with the waitresses about how a sundae was better than a milkshake when they were out of ice cream for the former. Gradually, we became so familiar with each other that I could just walk in the café, pick up a menu (or not) and go to the counter to order instead of waiting for the service.

The night we came back from Machu Picchu after a long morning and strenuous hiking, we were both exhausted and starving so we decided to go to Kushkafe for a quick meal. The moment we walked in Kushkafe after disappearing for 3 days, I saw the faces of the two waitresses light up. “¡Hola!” I greeted them. “¡Hola Jean! ¿Como está Machu Picchu?” they replied. I was surprised. Not only could they remember my name but also they knew that we went to Machu Picchu for the weekend. I was so moved by their genuineness and continued our conversation.

The last afternoon in Cuzco, Jiayi and I stayed in Kushkafe as well. When the two waitresses came in for their shift, they were so excited to see us. I gave them each a piece of heart-shaped chocolate that I made the day before in our chocolate-making class and told them that we were about to leave. I could see the sadness in their eyes. I felt sad to go too. It was not easy to find a stranger that was willing to be genuine to you. We just found two but we had to say farewell so soon.

Hecho con amor :)