Finding Beauty in the Desert

Earlier this week I was blessed to wake up early and go to the market with my host family. While there, I saw many things that you don't see every day back in the states. One thing that I saw brought me back to my childhood. I did not play many video games growing up but one that I did manage to become decent at was Donkey-Cong. I am not sure if you have played or seen someone play this game. But at one point you can find hidden rooms filled with bananas. This was the highlight of the game. (Finding mass amounts of bananas meant extra points within a minute.) When I was at the market the other day I got the same feeling when I saw mass amounts of bananas was being sold. There were actually many things being sold in mass amounts, but the bananas just made me think of my past. I imagined the little monkey from Donkey-Cong running through the market pounding on the bananas, jumping to reach the high ones and all the while hearing the blrrrrr sound of the points adding up. A wonderful memory so early in the morning. It made me smile.

This week has flown by. It is Sunday and we just finished a lovely lunch. They made tacos, which I do enjoy. I will be making cookies for my host mom which I hope are good. All in all the weeks here seem like days. It is crazy to think this month is practically over.

I started the week by painting games (hopscotch and foursquare), for the children to play during the after school program.  Hopefully in the next week I will finish the painting and get started on a wonderful play house for the girls so they can have tea parties. This makes me remember a time when my family would set up a tee-pee in the living room. My cousin, sister, and I would bring all our dolls into it and have tea parties. Good memories.

This week in the English class that I co-teach we had a talented young man read some of his fairy tales to our class. They were brilliant. I can't remember the last time I was drawn into such vivid childhood books. It was a real treat to have them read out loud to us. I cant wait to see the pictures of the golden colored balloon with wings, that gives the "land without flavor" back its sweetness- all due to a mischievous princess and her dog Manga. It's brilliant. Right?

My photo this week is meant to show off the designs on the mountains.  I am not sure if everyone can see the designs clearly and I am not sure what all of the designs represent but they look cool. They are made from flowers and I guess it takes hours of time getting the design just right. These symbols are on most the desert hills. This is what I see from the roof of my house here in Tacna. I was told about them by the missionary before I left the USA but now that I am here and can see them from miles away I realize that they are shockingly beautiful.  I don't know what they stand for but the energy someone, or more likely multiple people put into the symbols, is astounding.