My friend Kerri, whose family we visited this Christmas, pointed out in a recent comment how strange it is to one day be playing Settlers of Catan at their dining room table in Ohio and then, just a few weeks later, to be chatting across two continents and to be suddenly in such a different life.
But that’s just the thing: I am noticing that both just seem to fit. Both Bolivia and the U.S. are our life.
I mean, how odd is it that we can be - literally and figuratively - back at home in North Carolina; and then, in the course of a day, pack up our lives in six duffel bags and travel halfway around the world and be… um… home?
(To see part one of this, scroll down to “Super Target Has Nothing on Eloy Salmon”)
So, I have ascended a few thousand feet in rapid succession, twisting and turning up the mountainous main street that leads toward the Black Market, when we arrive at the amazing edifice that is La Iglesia San Francisco (being a “Kid Brothers of St. Frank” wannabe, I am an admirer of any place named after him). My ears are sufficiently popped, my mind is racing with the directions that were given to me by my friends, Ashlyn and Kristen (you see, I am not there yet; my shopping adventure still requires some good aerobic exercise which, here, means walking almost straight up), and visions of wireless Internet in my home are dancing in my head.
Oh, you need a blender? an electric fan? If your geography is anything like mine was a little more than 3 months ago, you would drive up an exit or two, pull into the local Super Target and locate the correct aisle in which to find your treasure.
While every country - nay, every town - would be a more wonderful place if each had a Super Target (Sorry Wal Mart fans, but once you go Target, you never go back), nothing beats the character-building, life altering… shopping experience that is La Paz’s so called “Black Market”.
