Stokes in Peru

Greetings everyone, I begin this blog entry early on Christmas morning from Marianella's parents home, as the household and the neighborhood remain calm and quiet after the traditional Christmas Eve celebration, which I'll comment upon later in the blog. In about 36 hours I'll be headed to the airport to return home to Minnesota with hopes of cleared runways and on-time flights dancing in my head. Before I leave the balmy climate of Peru for three weeks or so, I wanted to update my blog and let you know what we've been up to lately. Cajamarca If you recall the last blog entry (if you could get past the mustache, which many of you could not :-)), we were planning on going to the northern highlands city of Cajamarca over Thanksgiving weekend, but inclement weather prevented us from landing there and instead we had to choose a time within the month so as to not lose our money. So the week before Christmas was when we ventured off to Cajamarca and enjoyed a peaceful week

Greetings again one and all~ How are you doing? I'm finally getting around to updating the blog again-as I've said previous times, once you get in the working week, life isn't much difference wherever you are in the world, I do not imagine. Marianella and I had planned a weekend getaway over Thanksgiving weekend (even though it's not celebrated in Peru, I get Thanksgiving off since I'm working at the American school in Lima) to Cajamarca, a very historic city in the highlands of Peru and we did circle above Cajamarca but we were unable to land because of inclement weather, so we returned to Lima and will try again the weekend before Christmas to visit Cajamarca. So, if I can't tell you about a trip, what news can I share? Well, November was a month where I looked ridiculous-save your jokes about all year round, trust me, as you shall soon see, November was unique (technically, October 31 through the end of November). Halloweeen We'll start on October 31st

Greetings again everyone! Wow, has it been a long time since I've updated this blog. I didn't realize how long until I logged on tonight and saw that the last update was on August 7th, over two months ago. I can blame it on one thing-the working life :). Now that both of us are working full-time, our routine has been pretty standard and without too much excitement. However, that all changed in the past ten days or so as we once again welcomed visitors from the States, our good friends Anna and Dave. You may remember Anna as the maid of honor in our wedding and it was the first time since Marianella moved down here that she was able to reconnect with her dear friend, so it was a very fun and special time for us. We said goodbye and sent them off on the airplane home late last night, but during their slightly over a week stay in Peru, we took them to some of the "must see" sites of Lima, enjoyed some fine dining both out and in the kitchens of Marianella and her pa

(Taken from the rooftop terrace of the hotel we stayed at) Greetings all~ I hope as we roll into August that life is treating you well. As for life in Peru, I am gearing up for the routine of full work weeks, something I haven't experienced for quite some time. As I mentioned in the last blog, swine flu (or the less colorful name it now is given) has been sweeping South America and caused the start of the school year to be pushed back another week for the students. The students aren't the only ones who have benefited-with the short work week (we only were allowed to come in Thursday & Friday of this week), Marianella and I took the opportunity to escape away for an extended weekend trip. Late Friday night we boarded the bus for an 8 hour trip to the highlands and the small city of Huaraz (pronounced War-as). Now you might say that sounds like a pretty miserable excursion and I would normally agree; however, Marianella lined us up with a wonderful bus, where the ultra-co

Greetings again everyone~ I hope life is treating you well back home in the States. I see it's been slightly over a month since I last updated the blog, so I figured I should fill you in on what's going on in our lives recently. If you didn't know, I was recently back in Minnesota for a brief two week visit. The visit was more business than pleasure, as my availability for socializing was curtailed by selling furniture, cleaning out our house, and preparing the place for the next renters to 301 Wyoming. So I apologize if you didn't hear from me while home, but I anticipate that my return trip after Christmas will allow for more relaxed times and socialization. As you will see below, I did take the opportunity one morning to take some pictures of the Twin Cities area, just so we don't forget what St. Paul is all about while down here in Peru. In addition to the historic sites of St. Paul, you'll also see some pictures of the University of Minnesota's new,