Make me down a pallet on your floor...

It is hard to believe, but after a year of high-altitude living, various unknown live-in intestinal friends, plenty of near misses, insanely jealous Latin men, gigantic slugs, rats, tocosh, incessant honking, urine allies, and too many mind- and ass-numbing bus rides, I get to come home!! For good or bad, it does not mark the true end to my dissertation research days, as I have been hired as part of a larger National Science Foundation project for a few more months. But the upside is that I get to come home for a month and unwind, and from this point on I have a lot more control over my life instead of depending on the kindness of State Departments, that is, if they don't lock me up for living off a tourist visa...

My folks came to visit in May and it was quite a trip. We made it over to the Amazon just before things blew up in Bagua, then explored the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu. As the intrepid travelers they are, they then made their way up to Huaraz, survived meeting the locals and eating cuy, not to mention a few 12+ hour tours around the Cajellon de Huaylas. Fortunately, we missed anything heavy, but we did manage to catch quite a few regional and national strikes. The folks left in early June and I spent a few days moving into and settling my apartment in Huaraz, which is saving my sanity. It is a great work space with wonderful views of the glaciers and overlooks a sweet little plaza which is great people watching. I spent a few weeks working up in Copa then had a quick but great visit from Dabies. We hike Santa Cruz, the more famous trek in the area, on about 1,000 calories...over four days! Word to the wise, do not use Galaxia tour company! July was largely spent planning, organizing and participating in a large conference on Adapting to a World without Glaciers, put together by USAID, The Mountain Institute, and your favorite university, UGA! It was great networking, and I was relieved to learn that I was still up-to-date on the regional research even after hiding out in the foothills of glaciers for a year.

There is not too much to report in these final days. As usual, it has been a roller-coaster, but I am getting lots of work done and setting up some good leads for when I return in September. Copa meanwhile is very excited that I will be joining them for their independence day celebrations in October. It is so wild! Three story spinning firework displays, non-stop dancing and too many cajas!

So get ready folks, I will be in and out of our fair country a bit over the next 6 months or so (namely in September and November), and will be looking for a place to rest my head...'make it soft, make it low, so my good girl will never know, oh make me down a pallet on your floor'...