Thursday, March 18, 2010

A little warm fuzzy

As the U.S. is prepping for spring, we in Peru are eagerly waiting for the raining season to end. Yesterday was a perfect example of rainy season madness. I had left the Hope House to buy some things for our afternoon class. The sky was cloudy, but I didn't pay any attention to that. I made my way to the busy market street, when not even 2 blocks later, I found myself hugging the outside store walls and thanking the overhang for protecting me from the brutal downpour. The streets turned into grey rivers and everybody stopped in their tracks. 15 minutes later the downpour disappeared, but the riverflow in the streets stayed heavy. My shopping trip that normally would have taken 20 minutes took almost an hour.

When our afternoon class started my shoes were still soaking wet. The women took pity on me and suggested we make a 'chanchita,' the commonly used word for piggy bank when a group of people all put together a little money to buy something. With the chancita the women bought sugar, hot tea and bread and we had a warm little snack that didn't dry my shoes, but definitely warmed me up.

Today the sky is cloudy, but I am proceeding with caution!

Paz ~ Nora

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