For me, it’s all about the shopping.
The knit camel gloves from Mongolia. The green loafers from Paris. The leather handbag and chic eyeglass frames from Florence. The pearl necklace from Beijing. The argan oil from Morocco. The black leather jacket from Buenos Aires. The ceramic house numbers from Sydney. The table runner from a small village in the Andes mountains. The cowboy boots from Oklahoma City. These items and more bring my exotic travels into my everyday life.
These are more than just ‘things’ though. Everyday outside my yurt in Mongolia the local women would congregate with their hand-crafted goods. We didn’t speak the same language in words, but women selling their wares and women shopping can always manage to converse. In the souks of Marrakech, the women always kept their heads down, never making eye contact, but I managed to procure some of their fragrant spices. While trekking the Inca Trail, I was approached several times by women with their children wrapped papoose-like on their backs. We smiled at each other, I admired their babies and bought some of their goods.
See, no matter where we are from or what we do, we’re all women making our way in the world. And we all love to shop.
Photo credit: phillie casablanca/flickr
