Shoes

When winter comes and I am forced out of my comfortable sandals, I most often go reaching for a pair of traditional cloth shoes.  These old school craft of shoe making now come in tons of fun and Asian trendy sort of styles (Yes, I have seen leopard print ones).  Think similar to modern day Toms, but the art of cloth shoe making has been around for centuries and is  perfected on this side of the world.  You can still see old ladies sitting on the squat stools by the side of the road, hand stitching the materials together.   They are the prefect, lightweight, fall footwear for all the walking I do.  In fact last year while we were opening our business we learned that there is one of these shoes stores located within a block  of all of the government offices we had to visit.  Shoes shopping became both a celebration for getting another step in the process done, and a consolation when we failed.  

If you haven’t guessed by now I am constantly singing the praises of these shoes.  Comfortable.  Durable. Affordable.  Cute.  I will brag about them as long as the sun shines in the desert.  But even here in our dry climate we do get rain occasionally.  Rain here tends to result in swimming pool size puddles on the roads.  Rains and cloth shoes do not mix.  You can ask my cold, damp soggy feet from last night, how much they enjoy squishing and sloshing around for hours in freezing water holes with zero protection.  Maybe what I need to do next time is tie bag on my feet to protect my shoes they same way guys take care of their doppas.