I love leaving my house and hearing a two year-old scream after me, "¡Lucía! No te vayas." ("Lucía! Don't leave!). I love walking down the street, nodding to all the old folks sitting out on their front stoops, giggling as one woman exclaims, "Good evening! Ah, how beautiful you look tonight!" I love waving to my neighbor as he drives his moto down the street. I love coming home later that night to a family excited to see me and dragging me into the street to play volleyball with their neighbors until the wee hours of the morning. I love waking up the next morning and having a water fight in the street with all of the neighborhood kids.
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| At the top of the hill we climbed! |
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| Anabel, Rafaela, me, Chantelle, Britt, Pelau, Othmar (Britt's host brother) |
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| Twilight looking out the back of our house. |
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| The mountains! |
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| Cooking Aji de Gallina with Pelau being silly in the background. |
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| Still cooking dinner with Anabel! |
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| The duckies that have free reign of our back yard! |
Yet, I weep. I weep for the dogs, kicked and abused by their owners. I weep for the environmental disregard that takes place when people simply throw their rubbish in the street. I weep for those children who's bones push forth a little too prominently. I weep for the women and children who suffer from the machismo culture. Finally, I weep for those who think that the people I met are only poor. They know that they are poor, but it in no way defines them. Their richness of living overpowers any physical poverty.
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