Kelly's Visit

Kelly came to visit just over a month ago. The week-long visit was great. We enjoyed good food in Lima, where we spent two nights, one on each end of the visit. The rest of the time was spent between my site and Paracas and Huachachina, two tourist sites not far from where I live. Paracas is a beautiful national reserve located on the Pacific about 45 minutes from my house, with open desert coast looking out to the Islas Ballestas, a set of biologically diverse islands known as the 'poor man's Galapagos Islands'. The two pictures below are from the reserve, though unfortunately, we weren't able to make it to the islands that day. Huacachina is a commercialized oasis nestled among huge sand dunes just outside the city of Ica. It's fun but fake. No Peruvians live there. Only hostels, restaurants, and small stores dot the horse-shoe-shaped road that hugs the oasis. The Peruvian government thought it was so cool they put a picture of it on the back of their 50 Nuevo Soles bill. I didn't get any pictures. I'm working on that.



To those of you who sent gifts with Kelly, thank you very much. Everything was wonderful and very much appreciated. I hope you let me make it up to you when you visit ;) Despite getting sick for a day and nearly getting robbed (Kelly was deft enough to stop the thief before he ran off with her passport and money...I was oblivious to almost the entire encounter until afterward), she's hoping to come back in just a short while to celebrate my birthday. I'm already getting excited for it.


Check next post for updates on my facial hair (it's changed again) and my recent trip to northern Peru for a week of training.