[ Dec.2015 ] There were some stylish shops in Valparaiso in Chile.
I bought this Chrysocolla ring there.
Chile is famous for its Lapis Lazuli, but they have other stones related to copper, too, like Chrysocolla.
The shop where I bought this was called Galeria Orferes and they were selling accessories made by 7 or 8 artisans of this area.
Mr. Rocco Napoli who was tending the shop was one of the artisans.
At first I was intrigued by his works, but they were too expensive for me.
I mumbled “too expensive” in Japanese, then he said “How about this one?” in Japanese.
I thought he must have learned the language by customers, so I asked “Do many Japanese tourists come here?”.
He answered “Not at all”.
So I asked “How do you speak such good Japanese, then?”.
He said “I studied metal craft at Tokyo University of the Arts for six years”.
What a surprise! I never imagined meeting someone like that here.
As his name suggests, originally his family was Italian.
Apparently his grandfather came from Basilicata of south Italy.
He said “When I was young, we spoke Italian at home” and he spoke good Italian, too.
Of course he spoke English as well.
Valparaiso became the one of the places I want to return to.
This shop is one reason for that.
