The Girl Who Was Allergic To Wool

There once was a girl who was allergic to wool. Let's call her, I don't know, Jennifer. That makes it easy. So whenever Jennifer touched wool, or anything with lanolin in it for that matter, her hands would swell up and turn bright red and would burn. If she smelled wool, her nose would get stuffy and her eyes would itch. Not a pretty sight. So there was definitely no going into Banana Republic Stores in the winter!

One day she decided to book a trip for her family to Peru. They wanted to see Macchu Pichu and Cusco, and the other pretty cities of the country. Little did she realize, or think about it actually, that the main textile in the ENTIRE country is, yes you guessed it, wool. You can get Alpaca, Llama, or regular old sheep there. And it is in EVERY STORE! Not to mention that it was winter when she booked this trip.

So off they went to Peru. The first hotel the family hit really brought the problem forward. Well it is winter in Peru, so what does a hotel do that does not have central heating, only space heaters? Well they put wool blankets on the beds silly! Then there is also the wool rug, the wool wall hangings, the wool blanket-like decoration for the bed. Oh and all the microscopic wool fibers floating in the air. Yeah! Her first few nights were torture. It was very difficult to breath in that environment, but add to it another 10,000 feet in elevation so that the oxygen was thinner. Well then due to that she needed to breathe deeper to get in more air. She had an easier time in the few (read one) hotel that did not use wool blankets.

Oh, and of course Jennifer wanted to souvenir shop. So off they went to the market. Well, in some streets the market came to you. But what did each store have? Wool hats, scarves, ponchos, sweaters, you name it. It was easier in the markets though since they were open air. But no touching the merchandise was not just a slogan for her. I guess it made it easier on her husband's wallet though. Most things she could not buy. Lucky him right?

Well I felt bad for this Jennifer. So, since I have Irish descendants, I decided to write her a limerick. My ancestors did not come from there, which is why it is a really bad poem, but I gave it a good college try. Before you read it though, one, I had to change here name; and two, I would like to apologize to my Spanish speaking readers. Yes, my Spanish adjective is not gender correct. But then it would not rhyme if I did that...

There once was a girl named Coco.
She felt like she was going loco.
She was allergic to wool, but went to Peru.
And now her nose is all stuffed with moco. (For the non-Spanish speaker, that would be boogers).