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.

Getting Old

I have decided that i want to grow old like this couple.

We went visiting and she offered us some delicious boiled corn.  Her husband comes out with hair sticking up all over and she tells him to go wet his hair down for a foto.  He dips his head in a bucket of water and combs his hair with his hand and sticks his hat on for a foto.  His eyes twinkled whenever he looked or talked to his wife.  Chickens running in and out of the house but what an honour to love each other like that.

Dolls

I have been taking dolls to Peru and am amazed that many of the children have never had a toy.  Many friends have donated toys for us to take.  One of the nicest toy was a doll.  An old lady from  out community gave us some dolls to take.  She spent a year knitting a dozen dolls for me to take and the girls loved them.   At one time we  were driving down an old road in the Andes and we came across a group of children walking.  The girls had a bundle of wool they were carding on their long walk home. We stopped and handed the  little (and big)  boys a hot wheel car and the little girls a doll.  Immediately the boys gathered in a tight group with heads toughing as they compared cars.   The young girls just stood with no expression and stared at us.  I wondered if they even liked the dolls because they just stood there.  As we  walked away we heard screaming and screaming as only little girls could scream. We turned around to see the girls jumping and screaming and hugging the dolls.

Taxi driver with 4 broken legs

We took a wheelchair for donation. Kristen went as our handicap because 4 years ago she hurt her knee. That was good enough to get the wheelchair transported on the plane for free. In Peru there was a very nice man waiting for it. He WAS a taxi driver and had a wife and 3 children. He was in a taxi accident and he had large spikes sticking out all over his legs and no painkillers.( he says he broke all 4 legs so we suppose that means both femurs and both lower legs.) anyway, he lost his home because he couldn't pay for the rent and he had to move his family into the most horrible little dirt room. No water, no sewer, no windows, a broken door hanging on 1 broken hinge and only a dirt floor and walls. All day long he just lay on the homemade bed until his wife returned from working at the market and could help him move. To get in and out of his dirt room we had to walk up 2 flights of rickety rackety old stairs one person at a time because the stairs were detaching from the mud bracings. We figured we were going to have 4 broken legs too when the stairs broke under us.
We helped him into his wheelcair but we could tell he was in terrible pain. He was so thankful for the chair that he tried not to show pain but wanted to thank us a million times. But again as always, the thanks does not go to us but to the person who donated the wheelchair to us.
This incident bothered one of the girls the most. I supposed it was because this man reminded her of her father. This kind Peruvian man became a real person to her. If she had been born in Peru and if her father was hurt in an accident.... there would be noone to take care of him and where would the next meal come from. After returning from Peru, many times I would notice her crying as she was thinking about this little family.

26 dogs in the school classroom

We have had the opportunity to help the women in several community and villages. In this village the children walk to school 4 hours each morning and night cross -country. The children and some parents leave at 4:30 am to walk. At the school, there were 26 dogs wandering in and out. DOGS Everywhere.
We were able to take them school supplies and bananas. The parents also got a banana each. One little old lady received her banana and quietly hid it under her apron in hopes that we would think she was missed and could get another one.
They fed us maggoty potatoes and old tough ram that was chopped apart with an old ax. We ate this with our fingers.
For a surprise, they brought out a bottle of pop. They poured this pop into a white tin cup. I drank first and then the 1 cup was passed around the villagers. When it finally arrived back to me, I guarantee that I did not want seconds no matter how thirsty I was. I definitely needed a cold COKE to digest this. But alas... no Coke
The children then took the empty pop bottle and filled it out of the sheep stream and drank it. Maybe it made the sheep water taste a little sweeter.


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