Shoes

There was an elderly Canadian  couple that were heading out for their 50 anniversary supper.   On their drive they happened upon a Fields store that was in the final hours of closing out.  There was nothing much left in the store and the staff were dismantling the shelves but this couple walked around for a few moments and  happened upon a large box full of nice running shoes.   They looked at each other knowing they only had enough money for supper but instead negotiated with the manager and were able to purchase  the remaining 50 pair of nice runners instead of supper.  We took these shoes to Peru with us and loaded up 22 mules and headed high up in into the high Andes jungle.
    

High Andes jungle village school

We usually arrived at the villages later in the evening.   At one place we stopped it was dark and rainy and a boy had heard that we were coming.  It was too dark  to see much even with flashlights so we told this boy to come back in the morning but he proceeded to sit in the cold rain by our tent.  Several times we told him to come back in the morning when it was light out, but he continured to sit at our tent and wait.   We learned that he lived 3 hours away (this was at peruvian speed and not gringo speed) and that he wouldnt be able to return in the morning, so we dug through our packs and found him a pair of shoes.  We insisted that the shoes fit or he was not allowed to have them but he would not put them on his feet.  Finally we convinced him to put them on just for 2 seconds so we could make sure of the size and then off they went.  He told us that he was going to carry the shoes home and he wanted them to look clean and nice.  H e had never had shoes before and wanted to show his family and take the shoes to school to show his friends.  In the morning we were able to give shoes to the little village school high in the jungle.  

Mamita

One of the endearing words in Peru is Mamita.  Mom-ita.  Hard to translate into English because it is more of a form of respect towards a mother.  The older the mother, the more respect she gets.

Mamita

We were hiking in deep in the high andes cloud forest.   It was dark outside and us gringos, had purchased a sheep for some fresh meat but wanted nothing to do with the organs or brains.  Our muleteers were happy for that because the brain and guts and organs are the best part.  After the brains had been boiling over a fire in a pot of stew a little old mamita came over and I watched this with interest.  The muleteer very politely acknowledged her and invited her over for some brain stew.  They handed her a bowl and then served her the boney sheep skull with the brains circling in it.  She slurped down the brains like we slurp spaghetti.  I liked to think that she slurped the brains out through the sheep's eye sockets but i don't think that was totally true.  After the evening meal of brain stew, the men threw in some more water and organs and simmered it all night.  In the morning, mamita again received a big bowl with the best organs.  They offered us some for breakfast which  gagged me thinking of it.  Miriam, my very own daughter, my genetics, said "Yes, Thank you" and slurped down some organ stew for breakfast.

Every little girl loves to look beautiful.

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No matter what culture you are in.  Little girls are all the same.   They love to look beautiful.