I think the laundromat may have made off with my clothes and fled to Mexico...

It's been too cold and damp here to wash my clothes myself and hang them out on the line because they might not dry until next summer. So on Monday I dropped off my laundry at the laundromat. Since I was going to be paying to get my clothes washed, and since I hadn't done laundry in a while, and since I didn't really have a good idea of what was clean and what wasn't, and since I don't have a very large supply of winter clothes here, I figured I might as well get all of my clothes washed. So I packed up everything but the clothes on my back and headed over to the laundromat. He told me everything would be clean and smelling lovely by Tuesday. So I went back on Tuesday and he was closed. So I went back on Wednesday and he was closed. So I went back today and he's closed. So I'm going to have to borrow clothes from Jimena and pray that one day the mysterious laundromat will once again open its doors so that I won't have to fly home um...you know, "en bolas" (that is, not clothed).

Simple lessons

It was cold and damp in Punto del Diablo and Dad and I decided to build a fire. Dad slaved away for about an hour, stripping wood, rolling up newspapers, lighting matches and blowing on the hearth in hopes that the sparks would catch and the logs would keep a flame. Alas, the fire would not burn. Frustrated, Dad gave up and sat back against the wall. It was only as he was rolling up his sleeves that he realized he was no longer cold. And so we are reminded once again that it is not about the destination, but rather the journey.

Or maybe Dad didn't even realize that he had rolled up his sleeves or maybe he wasn't cold to begin with, and maybe it was just me. Either way, all that really matters is the simple lesson that comes out of this. And even more important than the lesson is the way in which the lesson was taught.

Every day, in the simplest of ways, the world offers us lessons like this one. Most of the time, we are blind or deaf or asleep and we let them pass us by. If we would only pay closer attention, we might just learn to read; and once we learn to read, the world will open up to us like a book.