(BACK IN THE DAYS IN PERU SOUTH AMERICA) The first time i saw tattoos on somebody was in my summer breack when i was 6 years old, my grampa had a circus, and where ever the circus where, my mother ,my brothers and my self, go up and spend all summer breack, i remember the man that supose to cut one lady in half, had a eagle on his chest, then i saw a movie when i was 6 or 7, the name in spanish is : LA MARCA DEL DRAGON that translated to english is something like this: the mark of the dragon, and it was something like this, a guy that won his fights got a tattoo of a dragon in tribal,just black shape of a dragon, i remember he was covered all his body, in his last figth he dies too, and he ask his friend to tattoo the mark of the dragon in the only place he had left..........................his right chick!!! anyways, my older brother got two tattoos in one time, as son he was 18, fck deam it! i waited stupids 3 years !! then life was totally diferent, and took me for diferents ways, so i ened up bartending in a club in mexico city and i was in college studying architecture,so i got my first tattoo in 1998 and became friend of the tattooer, he tought me, he told hey charlie i think you can do this too , so in 1999 i tryed for first time tattooing and felt in love and here i am, . i want to be honest, maybe the way i was learned was not the right, but help me in that time, so , my new friend told me if i rent a spot in a flea market in mexico city, LA LAGUNILLA i will gain experience so fast, and i will charge ship but ok to pay the rent .so i was tattoing every sunday, my friend barrowed me books, stencil paper, sterelice tubes and needles, ink, power unit,tattoo machines, i got a sintetic floor for kitchens, so my corner was nice and clean, of course open, no walls. one desk and that's it, after 6 months i was tattooing at the shop of my friend where i got my first tattoo, and with the time , the desperation of knowledge made me move after one year of tattooing with my friend that is still my friend, and knew that on the road i can get more experience so i traveled monterrey, to cozumel, cozumel to mexico city , cozumel back and forth. tijuana monterrey.then i moved to minneapolis with my wife and son, and since i moved i was welcome to work at THE INK LAB , now david dettloff,kryss cho, and me are tattooing and having a few friends coming up here, from california,POR VIDA WORLD WIDE. and i realice that if i wanted to do this right i needed to recognice where im wrong, here and there, so i ended up trowing away things that here is not worthed, starting from zero , like an apprentice, so thinking like that made me go fast and fast, adn now i dont want to stop, is crazy, but is good, and everything i found it trying to be the best father , and becoming a good father made my charlie brother, my charlie friend , the charlie artist grow up too!! the son , the tattooer, you know, FAMILY FIRST, and this is what i do!!!.THE INK LAB 919 W.LAKE ST. MPLS , MN. 55408 www.inklab.com (612)8-23-29-69