Olympus OM-2N | Fuji Pro 160S
I was intrigued by this Chinese restaurant, considering the relative remoteness of Manaure. There's chifas all over South America but I've never stopped in; out of curiosity I finally visited a restaurant in La Esperanza, Honduras a few years ago, giving the tired-looking owner's wife a chance to speak Chinese for a while. I thought this would be another opportunity to interview an immigrant in an unexpected place.

Turns out José Ching Torné is half-Chinese, born and bred in Barranquilla. His Cantonese father met his mother while vacationing in Barranquilla; the concept of a Chinese tourist in Barranquilla in the...'60s? maybe even '50s?...was baffling to me.

José couldn't have been more excited to see me, calling out "PAISANA!" while rushing to get me a chair and a delicious free mango juice. He gave me every contact detail he had, including his brother's number in Brooklyn, and told me that since his father died, he never gets to see "other" Chinese people. He showed me menus from all his cousins' Chinese restaurants, mostly in Barranquilla. When I questioned the many dubious items, he laughed and admitted it was mostly Colombian food.

José's Chinese blood was difficult to spot, but I couldn't tell him that I didn't see it. I asked him why he'd come to Manaure of all places, when the rest of his family was still in Barranquilla.

"Because there were no Chinese restaurants here," he replied. "I get to have the only one."

Ah. Now I saw it.