Juan El afilador

Juan personifies a story that belongs to an entire generation of Galicians.

He was born in 1935, spent time as a child, and later took the sharpening wheel over his shoulder and traveled around La Mancha, singing La Raspita and speaking Barallete.

After a few years like this, he emigrated to Switzerland and, after 12 years working in factories there, he returned to Spain. In Barcelona, he pioneered the adaptation of a sharpening motor to his Vespa and took his trade to Andorra, Ibiza, and the Costa Brava.

Sharpener, emigrant, and innovator, he played the whistle like no one else and got paid after sharpening, with wit and friendliness

In 2020, at 85 years old, he beat COVID with bilateral pneumonia and without ever having taken a pill. His secret: chopping wood, playing billiards, and keeping his spark.

This is my tribute to Juan, the sharpeners, and all our elders who emigrated to try to improve their families' lives.