Stokes in Peru

Happy 2016 Everyone! A good resolution for me would involve being more prompt on my blog entries this upcoming year. I will do my best to carry through, starting with this entry, just a short time after our winter break. One of the nice perks of the international education world is having three weeks off during the holiday season; typically, Marianella and I have divided these breaks between Lima and Minnesota, but knowing that we would be job hunting this year, we decided to stay in Southeast Asia in the event that we needed to attend a job fair in early January (we didn’t; more details regarding that at the end). We chose to divide our break into three distinct destinations and themes. Our first week was spent in Phuket, Thailand’s largest island, where our aim was to relax and relax some more. Our second week took us to Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), which was new territory to explore while also meeting up with friends of Marianella. Week three was spent in the familia...

Prelude:  Shortly after we began dating over nine years ago, Marianella informed me that her dream destination was the Taj Mahal-my response was a scrunched face and a trio of reasons not to visit-too hot, too far, too dirty.  Over time it became part of our repertoire-when Marianella wanted to get me going, she would bring up visiting the Taj and I would respond with my mantra of reasons not to. Our little act extended to Anna & Dave, in which I found a compadre who was more resistant than I to a trip on the other side of the world, and Marianella found an ally in Anna.  It was decided, Marianella and Anna could visit the Taj Mahal together while Dave and I remained behind in Minnesota, feasting on whatever sports were on TV and whatever food could be delivered. And then we moved to Bangladesh.  A new twist was added to our little back-and-forth.  Now we were in the backyard of the Taj, a mere two and a half hour flight from New Delhi.  It no longe...