Warm Clothes for a Warm Hearted Girl

Just a short entry today. As I mentioned before, JooYeon has befriended MariSol, one of the girls who sells produce in the local market. As the days passed, JooYeon continually practiced her Spanish with MariSol and discovered many of the hardships she faced each day. One of them was a daily hour long walk to and from the market in the cold hours of early morning and late evening. Seeing MariSol´s worn and tattered red coat with holes in it drove her to make her first ever personal use of our ¨Love Fund¨that we started in Korea. We went to a nearby town and after some intense shopping (whereas I probably would have bought the first coat I found in that situation, JooYeon was intent on getting something that would be not only warm and a good fit, but fashionable for MariSol), we found a nice thick coat for her.

JooYeon´s karmic reward came very soon after when she happened across an alpaca sweater-poncho??? which fit her perfectly and was very comfortable (don´t worry Selene... no alpacas were killed in the process). She then finished her shopping spree with some avocados, onions, lemons, tomatoes, and peppers and made a huge bowl of guacamole for us to spread over our fresh loaf of bread we had got from Hearts Cafe.
We found another good cafe in the next town over, or rather, it was recommended by my friend James. I spent a good half hour chatting with a group of teachers from Florida independently travelling on their summer breaks, which was reassuring that if and when I do start a long-term teaching job, I will still have the freedom to travel around with Joo!


Then, here are pictures of the kid next door and a chicken with a skinned neck running around, which really aren´t that good of pictures and don´t have any even remotely significant stories, but I already accidentally downloaded them off my camera so it´s just easier to let them be.

Right now I´m taking some ¨personal time¨at the internet room, partly to write out this blog and partly to clear my head to figure out how to get our group to Machu Picchu tomorrow. I won´t personally be going as big tourist attractions turn me off no matter how ¨significant¨they might be, but I do want to help the group figure out a way around the ultra expensive normal ways to get there. We bought JooYeon a train ticket already because the three of us guys had planned to walk the 30 km along the train tracks, but I just found out minutes ago that that particular hike is prohibited and there are two unavoidable guard stations and so I´m surfing the net to find another viable option. The boys are getting increasingly independent and took a trip alone today to some salt flats, which required both Spanish and awareness, but this trip to Machu Picchu is a bit harder. More on what all worked out the next time I write!