Give a little...

A peaceful day for Pax, it´s been. I sat down directly in front of a giant bowl of aji (like salsa but waaaaaay better. It makes any mediocre meal excellent!) for almuerzo in the mercado (lunch in the market). I know you know, but let me remind you how awesome it is to eat a full meal in SA: enormous bowl veggie soup with big hunks of yucca, like potato but better, made more delicious with fresh lime and aji...a segundo (second course) of fried fish, moist steamy rice, and salad dressed with salt and lime and aji, mmmmmmmm....and then some mate (tea) usually the same delicious flavor of cinnamony herbs, though I have no idea waht they steep the water in to make it so riiiico. All of this for S./2.50...that´s 2.50 soles...that´s under a dollar. MUUAAHAHAHA....ughmm, excuse me, got a little carried away.
After lunch I found some Sao Paulo, a wood used to burn indoors and flavor the air. This way my room will smell like a church ceremony! Also, some all natural tobacco, already rolled for me. 100 cigarillos for S./15...I lost my american spirit pouch of no additive tobacco waaaay back in Quito so this is very good news. No more filters for me! (Tongue in cheek)
I went outside to sit in the sun and work on a bracelet. After a minute a woman walked up and offered me some bananas - thanks! have some chocolate! - she thanked me and God -Happy Easter! - a moment later an old old old woman, bent over at the waist for the rest of her life surely, walked over with her cupped palm leading the way -here, have some bananas! - I offered, she smiled a toothless grin....everybody wins! Later, a group of niños gathered round to watch the making of the pulsera (bracelet) I was working on . I finished and tied it round the wrist of the shyest little chica. With the remaining string we all worked on a few new bracelets. They were fast learners...these kids, living on the street, doing what they can for food and warmeth...they amaze me. So bright! Their eyes tell stories their mouths will never reveal, for it´s nothing worth speaking of, to them...
I have made a habit of saving every bit of food that´s not being eaten and passing it out. Every one apreciates a banana, a slice of chocolate, or left overs. I actually plated some food left behind by a gentlemen sitting across from me and gave it to a disabled man playing a flute on the corner. I asked the servers permission, a little nervous about what his response might be, and he only said - what a good heart - and smiled. Everyone looks out for each other here. It somehow seems more human, more raw flesh and still yet, more soul...it stands out here, as I´m not accustomed to the poverty. What stands out more is a man who obviously has little, waking a girl on the cold stone sidewalk, so that she may receive the last coin he has in his posession.
Much love, Heather Pax