Book you ticket now for...

That's right, folks- we've decided to take the world on in alphabetical order! Next summer we're leaving Peru and heading off for a 3-year stint in the Philippines!!!!

R&R

Dave and I spent this year's R&R on a quick trip to the States for a couple weddings! It was a fast visit but packed full of family and friends- and we got to enjoy time with our families without any distractions. After Dave's cousin's wedding in D.C., he flew home and I flew up to Maine for a friend's wedding. And let me tell you- October is THE time to be in Maine! Somehow I failed to take pictures of the leaves turning colors, but their wedding pictures are going to be GORGEOUS!

I did however take a ton of pictures along the beach! Check out the Nubble Lighthouse-

And look how huge the beach was! And the tide's not even all the way out yet!

Kuelap!

Embassy Lima gets both American and Peruvian holidays, so our Labor Day weekend turned into a 4-Day weekend, thanks to St. Rose of Lima! We leaped at the chance to get out of dreary, foggy Lima and find some sun! We decided it was the perfect chance to go to Kuelap- and Dave wouldn't have to take any time off to do so! Kuelap is an ancient fortress in the northern Peruvian mountains from maybe as early as the 700s AD and Dave's wanted to go since he got assigned to Lima. We just never had the chance until now!
However, getting there is no picnic. First, we flew to Chiclayo and saw a (unrelated) ruins around there

and visited a fantastic museum- the Museo Tumbas Reales. The website doesn't give you half an idea of how incredible the collection is (and we weren't allowed to bring cameras), but the place to chock-full of gold artifacts.

From Chiclayo, we took a double-decker bus for 10 hours inland, through the mountains, to Chachapoyas. The way there wasn't too bad because we fell asleep before things got too hairy, thank goodness! (The return trip...not so much.) Chachapoyas was a nice, small town- cold weather but very friendly. We stayed at an adorable hacienda hotel, Casa Vieja (literally, Old House). The flowers were gorgeous!

From Chachas, we still had to drive for 3 hours to get to Kuelap, and then there was about a 30 minute walk!

But it was SO worth it! No travel guide does it justice- extensive ruins, HUGE walls, llamas, and it's practically deserted! We felt like we had the entire place just to ourselves!

We forgot sunscreen, so Dave pretended he was Lawrence of Arabia. I did not. One of us got terribly burnt and regrets that decision.

If you're interested in wedding photos...

you can find all of them here!
Enjoy!

One Month!

The last month has been so full of events, meeting people, and getting settled but the pace is happily slowing back down to normal. Single biggest factor in this is I got a job! Hopefully. I'm still waiting on final government approval (read: paperwork), but the American School here wants me to be their go-to secondary sub. Perfect!
So while I've been waiting for that approval, I've been meandering through the neighborhood. Miraflores really does have some charm! Check out these sister bugs-

And like any charming city, true function may be called into question-

That door (and the yard and house behind it) sits on the Malecon- I pass it frequently and find it completely intriguing!

There is always something happening- the orange cones mark a hole in which a man is completely submerged, shoveling out dirt. No one's with him, just a man, digging a hole, supervised by street art.

I haven't mentioned it yet, but across the Malecon from our apartment, parasailers launch! (It looks much better in the summer, I promise!)

Miraflores is full of comfy cafes! My favorite is La Mora- artisan breads, real chai tea, and the most chock-full of vegetables quiche I've ever had! I could spend every afternoon there with a cafe con leche and a good book!

Photo Blog

Our photographer recently blogged about our wedding! See it here!

It was so much fun reading through and re-living our wedding through the pictures- enjoy!

Not an average Saturday...

Follow-Up:
The luncheon was lovely and I couldn't have had a warmer reception! Sitting by the fire, we talked about knitting and yarn, and the Catholic parishes in Northern Virginia! Dave and I also got a full tour of the residence, which is apparently the most attacked one. (Not so much recently though!)

Dinos, cafe, and SUN!

Lima's pretty solid- but the best part is the ready-made ex-pat community that's totally got my back. For example, Ladan helped me turn pretend to be a dinosaur!

(Okay, really she just took me to a salon where they could remove the gel manicure from the wedding, but tinfoil fingers are *just like* dino claws.) She's also helped me get my footing with grocery shopping and invited me to a girls movie night. It's really nice to feel like I fit and that people want me to be part of their friend circle. Today she's helping me with more shopping- my meager wardrobe needs supplemented (and soon!) with nice pants shoes that are 'rainy season' appropriate.

Another friendly face- Sarah lives downstairs and she introduced me to Lima cafes and massages- two things greatly appreciated after such a full week. She also organized a trip to find the SUN this past weekend! Winter in Lima is miserable- it's constantly foggy and the sun really does disappear for MONTHS! Coming from a beautiful, hot summer in DC that was nice for maybe a day but after 5, I was eager to see the sun again and my new Lima friends were desperate! So we drove out of the city to Mesa de Piedra with a couple other (super friendly) families for the day- and yes, they do have stone tables! (Pics are on Dave's camera so I'll have to add some later.)

Home in Lima

It's amazing how instantly things like checking email makes things back-to-normal. We got back to Lima late last night, Dave went back to work this morning, and I unpacked all day. I pretty much have it all done too! (At least for now- we'll have two more much more intensive unpacks when the various shipments arrive.) In that process I realized that, aside from 2 pairs of jeans, I somehow managed to forget to pack weather-appropriate pants and shoes... I might have to sort out Lima shopping quicker than I planned!

I don't have many pictures yet from the wedding yet, but the flowers were delightful:

And my mom's family's exuberance was caught on film (or pixels...):

It really was a perfect wedding-  not because the flowers were pretty, the weather was incredible, and we got the words out through the tears, but because it was totally a celebration of love and joy with friends and family. And we got a llama :)

And the Journey Begins!

Tomorrow, Dave and I are off to Lima and Dave's apartment becomes OUR home! Poor Riley won't know what to do with himself!

I've been moving myself slowly since mid-June (with the exception of sending a crockpot and rug back with Dave in April- priorities!), which has made for a relatively low stress move but also makes today's finally being here feel surreal. Tomorrow, it's back to winter and sweaters- Lima's incredibly foggy all winter long, central heat doesn't exist but the 50s are cold enough that you want it, and windows are sealed. I might just have to break out that crockpot...

-j'net