Impromptu jacket shopping for an impromptu trip...

The director of the Red Uniendo Manos Peru (RUMP), the office I am working in and with this year, asked me this morning if I wanted to accompany him to Huancavelica for a couple days to work with the jovenes (the youth). These are the people that I will be working with a bit for the international environmental congress that is happening in Perú this year.

So, I said yes. Wrote a note to my site coordinator Debbie about the trip, and she called the office within 5 minutes telling me I needed a coat as it is freezing in Huancavelica this time of year. And to bring dramamine and advil for the bus ride and the inevitable elevation sickness.

I ended up going shopping for the first time in Perú with one of the girls from my office, Jenny, and another woman, Dora, who is really involved as a volunteer with many RUMP programs. I was amazed. Now, I worked retail for many years and have never seen anything quite like this. Rows and rows of 8X8 stalls lined 20 feet in the air with shoes, purses, jackets, jeans, everuthing. Amazed.

Needless to say, it is difficult for me to find coats in the US with long enough sleeves, and in Perú, I had the same problem. Multiple times. Finally found a coat I liked AND fit me. Go us. For a great price, go Jenny and Dora.

With that, I leave you in anticipation of the photographs of my electric shower and my impromptu trip to Huancavalica.

all for me, for now,
katie