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The People of San Juan del Sur: “Sanjuaneños”

By KELVIN MARSHALL

This edition's Sanjuaneño is Roberto Lopez Mora. Roberto has a barber shop “Barberia Lopez” just down from and opposite the Royal Chateau Hotel. Roberto is a true Sanjuaneno, born here 55 years ago. He has owned his own barber shop for about 27 years. Prior to that, following his training as a barber, he worked at another shop in town for 11 years.

Married for 23 years, and with 4 of his own children, Roberto believes that all the young men he chats to in the barbers chair are his extended family.

“I give them advice on all sorts of subjects. From school work and girlfriends to learning a trade and getting a good job to the pitfalls of drinking too much. I’ve seen the trouble too much alcohol can cause”

Roberto is passionate about his town and “his” people. I asked him what he thought about the growth of San Juan in recent years. “It’s a good thing; after all, there are no fish, not like there used to be. Look at the jobs the tourism industry is creating. These are jobs for Sanjuaneños”

I asked him who his most famous client was. He smiled and said that he could not give that away. “I can tell you about one” he said. “Hernaldo Zuniga, the singer from Masaya."

Roberto remembered how much a haircut was in 1969 when he was first training. “It was one and a half Cordoba’s and the exchange rate was about 7 Cordoba’s to the dollar.”