Home Sweet Home?

Back I am. To be honest I was entirely unsure as to how I would feel upon arriving back in my current country of residence. But when I began the long taxi ride though Lima it was a comfort to see the sights I have come to know so well. For me Lima has been many things to me throughout the past year. There were times when I thought of it as a conceited capital not worth the time, energy and money to visit. That of course changed as I met folks there through conferences, got to know students who moved to Lima from Huaraz for school, and became closer to my Fulbright colleagues. Either way, I am now completely comfortable with the city, and enjoy whatever time I do have to take advantage of wonderful restaurants, beautiful parks, and although the faces of Lima have almost continually evolved, the friendships that have developed. It also helps that modern creature comforts can be found within, which is always a good break from the dusty (or rainy depending on the time of year) frontier town of Huaraz.

Speaking of, I arrived 'home' to a sunny afternoon with a comforting breeze. Fortunately, it has not begun raining yet, and I think I'll have a few solid weeks to enjoy before the deluge happens. This year is El Nino, which means that the highlands will see long bursts of torrential rain. This translates into dangerous times because of the resulting mudslides and of course the damage that type of rain inflicts on agricultural practices and pasture animals.

Otherwise, life continues as normal here. I will be moving back and forth between Copa and Huaraz interviewing folks and observing village life and times.

Peru Take Two

Crazy. My lovely yet busy time at home is coming to an end. I saw most of my people, had a fantastic time on the beach for my friend's wedding (pictures posted) and even made some good headway on a paper to be presented in November when I return briefly to Athens for the Millennium meetings of the Ecological Society of America. My only complaint is that I did not get to experience a good storm...while I am incredibly happy that it did not storm during the beach wedding, a nice thunder and lighting storm rolling through earlier in the week would have been welcome by all.

On Sunday, I am heading back up to the mountains as a Junior Specialist Staff for the University of California, Davis. A nice help in the final months of my work in Peru. While finishing my own research, I will also be providing insight and interviews for a larger multi-sited work on the local perspectives of glacier loss, which I imagine I have mentioned here before. If not, stay tuned for presentations and papers...

Visiting my country has been really wonderful and I do admit that I am looking forward to returning (somewhat) permanently in the near future. While in the short-term I will be settling in Athens to analyze and write-up, I am excited about potential future movements toward the mid-Atlantic with a J-O-B! All leads welcome!

This is just a short check-in since it has been too long since my more routine posts, but I will be back in touch next month with more entertaining stories from the field.

Enjoy!