28 days on the road buying with Las Ninas Textiles
Reporting from my verandah at home without the haze of Jet Lag I can honestly say that this trip was AMAZING!!!!!
The usual glitches of suppliers not making orders and things not coming together exactly as you hoped as i ran from pillar to post in 28 days.
No problems with Credit Cards to hobble you, begging from friends. (as in Aug/Sep16)
A beautifully timed, dedication to the 80% of Indigenous people who live in Guatemala on less than $1.90US of food a day. (this week i was told how lucky i was as this year it had been revised from $1.25 by the World Health Organisation)
Did you see my posts on instagram and Facebook?? That meant living on Oats, Rice, 6 eggs and some locally grown bananas and guavas, plenty as long as i actually ate enough to fuel my body that couldn't stop sometimes, due to the machinations of my work, i began to walk about with my pot of rice or mosh closer to the end of the week, to stop me feeling faint.
The adoration of the Elderly as i Volunteered with www.mayanfamilies.org or here to donate directly to my Mayan Families Fundraising page.
Meet Don Pedro, who patiently sits outside a friend's home waiting for the Meals on Wheels Tuk Tuk donated by http://flowermoundrotary.org to arrive.
I visited two countries on this trip, over 25 towns and villages, took numerous planes, taxis, busses, in fact i cringe to think how big my carbon footprint is for this trip (and others) the longest i stayed was 7 days in one town, but for the rest of the time its a night here and there in hotels. So when someone asks me how was your "Holiday" envisioning a stay on the beach being delivered cocktails, its quite a long way from the reality.
My shipment is on its way to Australia brimming with things to share with you all, the stores will be topped up again soon and shortly after my website.
The main photo is of my Mexican Mother Maria who is always so grateful to hear from me, her daughter now lives away from the family with two of her children working temporally as a maid, her son had begun to not go to school and hang with the bad boys in town, so this was considered a way of combatting the behaviour, her first child is now a mother and the family cannot rely on the small income they make in their village embroidering shirts. Each trip i am armed with donations from friends and family for them, they re so grateful.
Here you can see Maria and i after we ate in a "posh" restaurant in the town close by, she was like a kid in a lolly shop reminding me she couldn't read or had ever been to such an establishment (being a humble campesina) and thankfully we ordered too much food so a huge doggy bag went home with her.
As you can see life on the road is fast, tiring and often a huge challenge, but ill be back again later in the year to do it all over again, enjoying the variety i have made for myself in my work and life for the past 20 years now.
Its like a ride at "Luna Park" its so addictive you just have to get back on it again and again.
