Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Chapter 12: How I got my hiking shoes

  I think this story is decently relevant to my travels, if you disagree, that´s alright. About a year and a half ago during my winter break we realized my hiking shoes were on their last legs. My mother and I drove off to the mall in search of new shoes. We ended up going to either Macy´s or Dillard´s to search for a suitable replacement pair. The first thing I noticed as we approached the shoe department was that the man working looked exactly like Santa Claus. Like Miracle on 34th Street lookalike. We started browsing while Santa-salesman helped someone else. As I looked at the different shoes on display, I heard him talking to the customer, not only did he look exactly like Santa, he also sounded exactly what I imagine Santa to sound like. No he didn´t go ¨Ho, ho, ho!¨ but he had a certain joviality to his voice. I started cracking up at the ridiculous situation. I tried to contain my laughter, but I could not, so I told my mom we needed to take a walk, she raised an eyebrow and asked, ¨Are you serious?¨ I answered yes, we walked away and rode the escalator up a floor.

   I giggled almost continuously for the next 15-20 minutes, trying my best to get myself under control. After the laughing fit subsisted gradually I said I was ready to return to the shoe department. Luckily upon returning, Santa-salesman had gone on his break. Instead I had a fairly plain, boring, but knowledgeable salesman to help me. In no time at all I found a pair of very comfortable, water-proof hiking shoes. Our non-santa-salesman said the last person to buy this pair had been a man planning an expedition to Machu Picchu. This gave me doubts, you see the most I was planning on using them for at that moment was to keep my feet dry in the winter through the snow and wet. Did I really need a pair of shoes that were equipped to handle such rugged adventures? Well, yes as you never know what might happen, and in fact now I have myself taken them to Ingapirca, so I think the score is settled.

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