Shoe drop journal part 3

24/11



More shoes to give out today. I am still exhausted from yesterday, we are working 12 hour days, it is very hot and sticky and I have no clean clothes left. I am currently sitting in the back of Carlos's ancient rustwagon (see video above) flinching every time it backfires underneath me. I fear for my balls, I half a expect a part of the transmission to explode up through the seat any moment, leaving only a bloodied gash in the ceiling where I was once sitting. To my right is a mountain of boxes crammed into every available space, I am squeezed into the left hand side adjacent to a door with an alarming tendency to open itself at random intervals and swing out over the road. Obviously I am considered more expendable than the shoes.

25/11

Woke up at 7am AGAIN, unwashed. Crammed some bread down then immediately jumped into heaving boxes of shoes. First school done at 10am. Last day today, kinda glad to be finishing soon but in a good mood. I saw the coolest little kid today, he had a pair of aviators and looked like a five year old Tom Cruise. I gave him some cool shoes to go with his look. Afternoon was just as hectic as the morning. Finally finished about 4, not its 5 and we are leaving Formosa after a hurried packing. I made sure to say a huge thank you to Carlos and hi wife, despite being poor they have been generous beyond words, Carlos has been a shoe-fitting machine and his wife, as well as washing our clothes has cooked some seriously fantastic meals, mostly from home grown vegetables and meat. We received awards from the town council for our effort. Not sure what to do with mine, its wooden and weighs about two kilos. I suppose I'll just leave it in the LIFE office. Lily just told us that we handed out over 5000 pairs of shoes to impoverished kids over the last two weeks- I think that's an incredible result and although I have a few misgivings, I am overwhelmingly glad to have been a part of the project. I have discovered a new part of myself and learned things I never even knew about before. Marion, Tom and Lily: fantastic work guys!

As we embark on our mammoth 1500km drive back to Buenos Aires, I am rocking out to Def Leppard in the back of the car. Just four short weeks and I have learned basic Spanish, fitted 1200 pairs of shoes to filthy little feet, taught maths to vagrants in the slums, watched a bongo drum show, almost been scammed, been pick pocketed, slept on a lot of different couches, met some incredible people, illegally crossed a country border and bought a hat Indiana Jones would be proud to own. And my journey is only just beginning! I can't wait to see what is around the next corner!