Stokes in Peru

Usually this blog details the various trips and vacations that Marianella and I experience, but today I want to tell you about our dear friend David Siemers who passed away on December 26th at the age of 42. If you spent any time in the southeastern suburbs of Minneapolis/St. Paul  over the last fifteen years, you very well may have crossed paths with Dave.  He was a pretty unassuming guy in his day to day life, working as a nurse practitioner at a Minute Clinic within a CVS Pharmacy ten minutes from his home.  He loved his Minnesota sports teams, Long Island Iced Teas, The Gear Daddies, small bets at the sports book in Las Vegas, stand-up comedians, dogs, the 4th of July, food of all varieties (excepting fruits and vegetables), and trips to the North Shore.  He played the part of a Gen-X, Minnesota guy pretty well and often anonymously. But for those of us who got to know Dave well, he was a superhero of sorts to us.  He was the guy who returned home to...

Greetings strangers, It has been quite some time since you've last heard from me via this blog.  My best intentions to do a write-up about the wonderful summer that Marianella and I enjoyed when home in Peru & Minnesota did not materialize once we returned to the hustle and bustle of working life in Dhaka.  A rapid start to the school year brought our fall break upon us before we could figuratively blink, which was alright by us-as you know by now, we are always happy to get out and explore more of the world that surrounds us. It has been about four weeks since we wrapped up our vacation-keeping in time with the rapidly moving days, most of my time spent writing on the computer since our return to Dhaka has been involved with writing letters of recommendation to colleges.  It's a bit of vacation to write about vacation. Our most recent adventure had us splitting our time between Thailand and Laos pretty evenly-we spent roughly three full days and nights in the...