Stokes in Peru

Greetings and salutations everyone~ I hope life is treating you all well and that you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's with your loved ones. This was my first holiday season not spent in the Upper Midwest, and the traditions I found in Peru vary somewhat from the States. What didn't vary was the presence of family during these holidays and Marianella and I had a great time over the past couple weeks. We spent Christmas at Marianella's parents and then flew off to Southern Peru to visit many of Marianella's cousins, aunts, and uncles for New Year's, plus a few days. I have a lot to cover in this blog, so I'll break it down by event: Christmas As Marianella and I drove towards her parents' home on Christmas Eve, I was having a difficult time getting my mind around the fact it was Christmas. Seeing that I was wearing a T-shirt and shorts and had my window rolled down, you may understand the difficulty. Upon arrival at her parents' home, the fe