Final Thoughts

Kositsky Family 2010

Our first post was on May 20, 2010. Exactly 32 months and 55 posts later we are calling it quits with this, our final entry. Life in the USA is back to "normal" and our adventures in Nicaragua, Peru and re-adjusting to the United States are over.

Emma and Hannah 
For our first post, we made a video of Emma and Hannah talking about the pending move to Nicaragua. We also took a video of them a month before moving to Peru in 2011. It seemed appropriate to make a final video about their expat experience. I suppose we were hoping for something profound and meaningful but instead we got something charming and funny (in just one take).

Emma and Hannah 2012
Emma and Hannah 2011
Emma and Hannah 2010

Aileen
We're all getting settled back in, and the novelty of life here is starting to wear off.  I'm no longer astounded by bus stops that not only have nice little benches, but alternating digital advertisements, a sign that tells you exactly in how many minutes your bus will be arriving, and a button to push to hear the arrival time, in case you can't see. (I'm no longer astounded, but those bus stops still make me think of our crazy bus trip about a year ago, that was supposed to be 15 hours long and ended up being 29!). And I no longer leave the grocery store with a single piece of fruit, because of the sticker shock. Getting back into the "groove" of everyday life here in the United States has definitely made me appreciate our adventure of the last two years even more. Looking back on all the amazing experiences we shared as a family and all the wonderful people and places we got to know make me want to encourage all of you who've said to us, "wow, I've always wanted to do that!"  Go for it!  What's stopping you???

In terms of lessons learned, I think I may have mentioned this in a previous post, but looking back, I really love the experiences that accentuate how we're all pretty much the same. Whether it's school in San Francisco, CA, or in Arequipa, Peru, the reaction to the question, "Who wants to be room parent this year?" is the same: averted eyes, squirming, and silence in which to hear a pin drop. And whether we live in a shack with a dirt floor in Nicaragua, or a 3 bedroom house in San Francisco, we all think at times, "It sure would be great if we had more space." And of course, every parent we met in every village, town, and city only wanted the best for their children. I guess that above all else, I hope that Emma and Hannah have learned this lesson in a meaningful way, and that it will influence their understanding of themselves as global citizens.

Jeff
Experiencing life overseas was a blessing beyond measure but perhaps not in the way one might expect. Buckaroo Banzai, one of my favorite movie characters, liked to say, "no matter where you go, there you are." I think that describes perfectly the expat experience. Moving overseas does not change who you are, broaden your mind, fix your weaknesses, make you skinnier, clear up your skin, or solve your problems. In fact, if you really throw yourself into the experience, living overseas tends to exacerbate whatever challenges you have in life while testing your strength and resolve. Fortunately, we came out the other end a bit stronger and a bit wiser, but essentially the same people we were before leaving the USA a few years ago. If there was any transformation that occurred, it was with our family as a whole rather than as four individuals. A friend who came to visit us in Nicaragua observed that we had become something more than a family and he declared us a tribe. We experienced some amazing things during the past two years and it was a joy watching Emma and Hannah become bilingual while moving from place to place with such grace and ease. However, for me, the best part of our adventure was having a special experience as a family. The kids still fight, the adults still bicker, and life is hardly perfect in the Kositsky household. However, having a few years without all of the commitments, complications and stresses of everyday life strengthened our family bonds and appreciation for everything and everyone we have in our lives.

*  *  *

In May 2010 we wrote....."the purpose of our trip was to help our daughters learn Spanish, to experience another culture together, and to have more family time in a relaxed environment. We would also like to make some sort of contribution to the communities we live in." And while it took a year longer than expected, we achieved all of these goals and came home feeling both fulfilled and relieved.  Relieved to be back among family and friends and thrilled to be living in Northern California which despite its faults (literally and figuratively) is a wonderful place to be.

Thank you so much for reading our blog. We started this project to keep a diary of our travels and share some experiences with a few family members and friends. We were very surprised and gratified at the number of people who told us they read our posts regularly. We hope to have a blog-worthy family adventure again someday but for now we are signing off the blogosphere.

With Love and Friendship,

Aileen, Emma, Hannah and Jeff

Kositsky Family 2012

Advice

Many people have asked us for advice about living overseas with children. This was supposed to be our last post but Aileen thought we should blog on this topic before signing off for good, so here it goes. If you are not interested in moving overseas, just read Emma and Hannah's entries - they offer good advice no matter where you are living.

Emma

1. Study the country you are living in.
2. Make friends with people or you will be bored.
3. Have fun!

Hannah

1. Don't forget your passport.
2. Don't bring things on the airplane you are not supposed to, like scissors.
3. Travel around the county you are living in.
4. Be nice to people around you.
5. Be safe.

Aileen

1. Do not send your kids to a fancy public school or to one of the American schools - you might as well stay home if you are going to do that.
2. Live in a place where there is not a large expatriate community.
3. Be mindful of the feelings and needs of each person in your family.
4. Travel light - you can buy what you need when you get there.

Jeff

1. Plan for 18 months overseas, one year is not enough and two years might feel too long.
2. Start your children at the beginning of the school year.
3. Given items 1 and 2, if we could do it all over again, I would have left the USA at the end of December 2010 and have the girls study Spanish in January. They then could have started elementary school overseas in February, which is the beginning of the school year in most of Latin America.  We then could have returned in August 2012. This would have been easier for everyone.
4. Try not to waste even one day - it goes by so fast.
5. If you are not working, volunteer someplace or get involved in a group or at your children's school so you can start building a local community.
6. Just do it. The hardest part is getting up the nerve to step out the front door - after that it is easy. Well, it is not always easy but it is easier than you think and worth the effort.

Random Thoughts on Logistics

1. In many countries, you can get by without having a work permit or residency if you are willing to leave the country every six months or so. Check expatriate websites for the country you are interested in for advice - the official embassy websites are often confusing and obviously not designed to help you work the system.
2. If possible, rent or sublet your home furnished while you are away and stuff your personal things in a closet, attic, friends house, etc. Try a website such as sabbaticalhomes.com to find a term tenant needing a furnished place for a fixed amount of time. If you play this right, you can earn some income or at least cover your USA housing/storage costs while maintaining a residence.
3. You do not need a property manager. We had a home warranty for any repair issues that came up (American Home Shield) and our tenants deposited the rent directly into our account.
4. It is very hard to open a bank account overseas. Find a USA bank that does not charge for using other banks' ATM machines. Also, find a credit card that does not charge for international transactions.  We used Citi as our bank and a Capitol One credit card and never paid any fees. We took care of all our financial needs with our ATM card and credit card without any trouble at all.
5. Bring 1 or 2 Ipads for books, movies, skyping, educational resources, etc.
6. Do not try to use your USA mobile phone overseas. It is easier to get one locally. If you want to keep you mobile number, switch your phone to a pre-paid plan while you are away and you have a USA number/phone you can use when you are home visiting and when you return for good. You might also consider getting a Skype number so folks in the USA can call you at no cost.
7. If you do not have a job, consider consulting if possible.  Jeff was able to charge half of what he would have in the USA and still earn over twice as much as he would have in Peru.
8. We had no idea how we would work out schooling before we moved to Nicaragua or Peru. In Nicaragua, we just showed up with our passports and that was enough. Peru was more complicated and it took some time to find a school that would accept us.  In both cases, everything worked out, but we were lucky.  Our daughters did not speak Spanish when we moved to Nicaragua and we just tossed them into the school no questions asked. In Peru, the girls had to take a test to get admitted to school and had they not spoken Spanish it might have been a problem enrolling them someplace. It might be worth researching this before you move overseas but there is always a solution if you are flexible.
9. There is no perfect age to move your children overseas. However, you should take into account where they are in their development as well as whether or not they want to go. This all has to be balanced with professional considerations as well as other family issues such as the need to care for aging parents. Emma and Hannah were 7 and 5 when we left and it worked very well for us. They were excited about the adventure and not too set in their ways that leaving was painful. It might have been a bit easier if Hannah was a year older but given all the other factors we had to contend with, it was the perfect time for us to go,

That is all we can think of right now. If you read all 50-something posts in this blog, you will find the stories behind this advice and probably identify some stuff we forgot to mention here. Regardless, if this is something you might want to do, just go for it. It is not that hard to pull off and totally worth the effort.  We will explain why it our next and yes, final post.

Settled In

Emma:
At first, coming back to the U.S.A. was sort of weird. I made many mistakes like speaking Spanish or putting toilet paper in the garbage can (you don't put it in the toilet in Latin America). I was thrilled to drink water out of a faucet! It is really nice to see friends and family and to know we would see each other again soon. However, I now miss my friends from Nicaragua and Peru!

I am in school at Fairmount Elementary. I really like Fairmount and I am happy there. I've made many really good friends at my new school. Also, I am a junior coach and help at recess. I play volleyball on the development team for the San Francisco Tremors, a competitive volley ball club. I still play guitar but now I have a different teacher named Julie. I started hip hop dance too but it's almost over and my parents said I cannot continue because we are so busy, especially since it is ski season.

I feel settled down and everything feels normal now. I am having my tenth birthday party soon and it is the first time to celebrate in the USA since I turned 7. Although I miss Peru and Nicaragua, I am happy to be home.

Jeff
I cannot believe we have been back in the USA for four months. Time sure flies. Emma wrote and typed her blog post in this edition all by herself. When she did her first post in 2010 she could barely write and I had to take dictation and edit. Same thing with Hannah. It is unbelievable how they have grown and changed.

I have been enjoying my freedom (from work) by bicycling, skiing and hanging out with friends.  However, having time to participate in our daughters' daily lives has given me the most joy. Cooking breakfast, taking them to school, and picking them up again has been a treat. Though I got to enjoy all these things overseas, it is nice to be doing them in our own home. In addition, I am volunteering in Emma and Hannah's classrooms and seeing them in action is wonderful. I cannot believe how well they have adapted to life in the USA. It has been a bit harder for me and I sometimes feel overwhelmed by the pace of life here. However, all of the open and generous people around us make the readjustment more then worth the effort. I am glad to be home.

Of course, it has not all fun and games. I have been doing consulting work and am still trying to get our house in order after being away for a few years. On top of this I am volunteering for an organization called WRAP and serving as the secretary at the Fairmount Elementary PTA. In addition to taking minutes, Secretary Jeff is trying to develop a program to encourage more interaction among the Latino and non-Latino families at the school.

Having all of this family, volunteer, and personal time has been great, but the party ends in January as I recently found work as the Chief Operating Officer of a nonprofit organization called Green For All based in Oakland. Now, all the pieces of the puzzle are in place.The adults have jobs, the children are in school, we have reconnected with our friends and family, and the house is almost unpacked. In other words, our adventures are coming to a close and our family has entered a new phase. Though there is always some sadness in transitions, our lives are full of joy and blessings and being away for so long made us appreciate how lucky we are to live in San Francisco surrounded by such wonderful friends and family.

Hannah
I feel sad and happy to be in the United States. I did not want to leave my really good friends in Peru but I am happy to see my old friends in the United States and to make new friends in my school. I already have some really good friends - Trudy, Natalia, Micah, Elsie, Ruby, Amelia, Stacy, Ella, Leslie, Brenda, and Lucia. I have also gotten to have play dates with friends from my old school - Nora, Willa, Zoe, Sam, and Helena. My school here in the United States is much easier than Peru because Peru is more advancado. We practice Spanish and now I am even better because they speak mostly Spanish at my school. I also go to gymnastics and violin lessons. I am also going to a class to help me read English better. My Dad asked me to say if it was hard or easy to come back to the USA.  I think it was in the middle.

Aileen
In August, Aileen returned to work as an teaching assistant in a special education class and continues to be una madre extraordinaria. Despite the fact that everyone always says they love the blog posts Aileen and the girls contribute to, Aileen continues to be a reluctant contributor and again failed to meet the publishing deadline. However, she promises to contribute to the next (and final) blog post in which we will share our final thoughts and perhaps reveal the meaning of life, the universe and everything.....

It's Not Over 'Til It's Over

Though we are back in the USA, the adventure of settling in continues and we plan to keep blogging until the end of the year. Hopefully things will be “back to normal” by that time and we will sign off for good. However, we are not even fully unpacked yet and Jeff is still unemployed so who knows when this adventure will end.

We are going to blog about our re-entry to America soon, but this post is the story of my (Jeff’s) journey on the Pacific Crest Trail. The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) is a hiking/riding path that goes from Mexico to Canada through the Sierra, Cascade and other mountain ranges. Let me say right off the bat that I did not get the idea to hike the PCT from the book “Wild” – I did not even read that very mediocre tome until I returned from my hike. In 1994 I hiked most of the California and Oregon sections of the PCT and always wanted a piece of Washington. Since I had the time and Aileen gave me the thumbs up, I decided to go for it.

I could write a very long and boring narrative on my experience (like the book Wild) but instead will just upload a few photos.

After a night of too much steak and scotch, my cousin David dropped me off at Rainy Pass (70 miles south of Canada)

High Cascades

Stopped in a town every week or so to clean up, re-supply and trash hotel rooms

This bull elk started to charge me on the trail and then (luckily) ran off

"Trail angels" sometimes set up parties at PCT trail heads - this is where I got my trail name "Cuate" after waxing poetic about our Nicaraguan dog with the same name

Mt. Ranier

The "knife blade" section of the trail

My friend Jonathan and his lovely family picked me up at the Oregon/Washington border

It was thrilled to be back with my family but I missed sleeping outside so we camped in our backyard

Here are some fun facts about my trip:

• Length of the PCT:  2,663
• Miles hiked in 1994:  1033
• Miles hiked in 2012:*  439     
• Days on the Trail:  30 (started September 30)
• Days I missed my family:  30
• Days I hiked with others:   4
• Days I felt bored hiking alone: 0
• Most miles hiked in a day: 22
• Number of rest days: 0
• Rain/snow days:  4
• Number of times I got lost:**  2
• Number of times I stopped to resupply: 4
• Showers taken: 3
• Beers consumed: 3
• Most hikers seen in one day: 22
• Fewest hikers seen in one day: 1
• Nicest person I met: A women who did my laundry for me (long story)
• Oddest person I met: A guy who hiked the PCT in wedding dresses (1 a week for 26 weeks)
• Youngest person I met: A 12 year old boy who was hiking from Canada to Mexico w/his Dad

*Actually, I hitched about 10 of these miles due to a fire-related detour on the trail

**I accidentally hiked off trail on the first and last days of my trip

Some folks have asked me what I "got out of" my hike. Truth be told, this was not a spiritual quest - I just love backpacking in the mountains. I had a wonderful time enjoying the outdoors which is the closest thing I have to a church. I feel blessed to have had this opportunity and for all the wonderful people I met along the way (and those I returned to). Speaking of which, if I did have any "revelations" on my trek it was how warm and generous most people are. I received a tremendous amount of assistance and support (big and small) from complete strangers while on the trail. It is amazing how much power there is in small acts of kindness.

Home!

On July 15, we had our last lunch in Peru and then our entourage escorted us to the Arequipa airport.

The flight to San Francisco was painless (thank you I-Pad) but it was hard to come home and not have a place to live (our house was still being rented out). Fortunately we were welcomed by Aileen's brother and Jeff's sister and stayed with their families for a few days. It was wonderful being reunited with loved-ones.

After a quick week in the Bay Area we left for NJ where we spent some time with Aileen's parents and younger brother. We also visited NYC a few times.

From NJ we traveled to SC to attend Jeff's niece's Bat Mitzvah. 

Finally, we returned to our home in SF and began the process of moving back in (which will take at least 6 months!).  We also visited with friends and traveled to some of our favorite Northern California locations. 

Soon after our return we learned that Emma and Hannah would be attending the same Spanish Immersion elementary school (Fairmount).  The first week went extraordinarily well and we continue to be amazed at how gracefully Emma and Hannah can adjust to new situations.

Aileen got a job at another nearby elementary school and started work a few days after the girls started school.  Jeff is still doing consulting and sort of looking for work.

We now begin the long process of re-adjusting to life in the USA.  Some of this involves simple things like finding the best bike route to school, signing up for lessons (gymnastics, volleyball, guitar, and violin), and of course the never-ending process of unpacking and replenishing the house.  It is much more complicated and demanding than it sounds.  We have been so busy we have barely had the chance to see friends and family.

Though the physical aspects of returning to the USA have been demanding, the emotional aspects have been even more so.  For the adults that is.  Where along the way to we lose the incredible resilience that young people have? Anyhow, for Aileen and Jeff, simple interactions such as shopping, going to a restaurant, and dealing with a 4-way stop sign seem at times very challenging.  Well, two years was a long time to be away and we imagine it will take some time to adjust. Despite the challenges, we are enjoying being around loved-ones.  We also enjoy our beds, clean tap water, burritos, our bicycles, the beauty of Northern California. etc.  We do not have the focus, energy or perspective to share any insights into the meaning of our family sabbatical....perhaps another day. 

One final note… Jeff has decided to take this opportunity (i.e., being unemployed) to hike part of the Pacific Crest Trail.  He has hiked most of the California and Oregon sections and will be doing about 450 miles of the Washington section starting September 5.

Going Home

In June of 2010 we left the United States for a 12 month stay in Nicaragua. Twenty-five months later we are finally returning home after an amazing adventure that took us all over Latin America. None of us can believe that over 2 years have passed since we started this journey. Even though we are coming back to the USA, we are not moving back into our home until mid-August and have lots of domestic travel ahead of us as we reconnect with family and friends. We are really excited to be returning to San Francisco but sad that our family sabbatical is coming to an end.  Once we get settled in we will post more about our thoughts and feelings on our adventure.  In the meantime, here is everyone's commentary on their last few weeks in Peru.

Jeff
In late June I returned to the United States for job interviews.  While I was not happy to be leaving 3 weeks before my family, there appeared to be some good opportunities that would start right away so it seemed worth the effort. Unfortunately, things did not work out as well as expected. I did not get the job I wanted and was offered a job I was not interested in. I had a few other interviews and those irons are still in the fire. Regardless, the trip felt like a very expensive waste of time. To add insult to injury, I took a friend to a Peruvian restaurant to cheer myself up and not only was it terrible, it cost as much as we spent on groceries each week in Peru. I left my lunch for a meeting and was feeling pretty darn depressed until an idea popped into my head - I have enough frequent flyer miles to go home! "Wow," I thought, "I am calling Peru home." Without giving it any more thought, I booked a ticket and the next day was on my way back to Peru to surprise the family. I landed in Lima around 10pm and had to wait until 5:30am to get my connection to Arequipa. While trying to sleep in an airport hallway, I felt someone pulling at my bag. I sat up quickly, ready for a fight, and saw a friend of mine from Arequipa grinning at me. We passed the long wait together and it made my return feel even more like a homecoming.

When I got back to our apartment building at 7:30am, I rang our unit from the front gate and hid from the security camera. Hannah buzzed me in without knowing who it was, (going against our repeated warnings), and I ran up to our door for a game of knock-knock zoom-zoom. When they finally figured out who it was, we all started screaming and crying and hugging. It was a wonderful reunion and I was so happy to be back in the White City (I am referring to Arequipa, not Gondor). Aileen and the girls had an amazing surprise waiting for me - a painting of Emma and Hannah walking up my favorite street. They planned to give it to me when they arrived in San Francisco but I got to see it in Peru and was even able thank the artist myself. I did not do a whole lot during my last few weeks in Arequipa but was so happy to be back and have the opportunity to end our 2 year adventure together. Like Emma used to say when she was 3 or 4 and we tried to give her a time-out, "it is just not a family if we are not all together."

  
Emma
Here is a poem that I wrote:


Feelings - by Emma Kositsy

     My feelings are complicated, especially when I am in nature.

     When I am in nature I feel free and alone.

     When I am in the city, I feel trapped, trapped as a mouse.

     Warm, cold, warm, cold; that is how feelings are.

     Feelings are a rainbow of colors.

     Feelings are all different, that is how they are.

In this poem, I am trying to explain the way I felt in Huaraz. Free and alone is how I felt, surrounded by glaciers, mountain, lagoons, natural vegetation, etc. Trapped is how I felt when I came back to the city. I felt even worse when Daddy went back to the USA. It made me feel like two days was a week and one week was a month. On Sunday July 1, Daddy came back! I was really excited to see him and he really surprised me.

Two weeks later I had my goodbye party at school. It was really hard to say goodbye to my friends and I cried. Actually, I did not think I would be so sad to leave and how many things I would miss. It is really crazy how the time passed so fast with my friends in Peru.

Today we are getting ready to leave and will be on a plane tonight at 5:45pm.  We will not get home until tomorrow afternoon. I can't wait to get back to the USA because I miss my family and friends, house, big parks like Golden Gate Park, Science Academy, Atlas Cafe, bagels, pickles, drinking water out of the faucet, burritos, putting toilet paper in the toilet, etc. I will miss my new friends, the Meza-Romero family, the weather, etc.  I will not miss my English teacher, the food, everybody being late, etc. Thanks for reading this.

Hannah
Today I am kind of sad and kind of happy because I am leaving my friends but I can see my family and start a new school in San Francisco. In Peru, some friends are really nice to us and they try to do play dates with us but we could not always do it because we were busy. It was very sad at my going away party because my friends said don't go and my teacher was crying. I will miss Mama Techi, Don Nelson and all my friends. I will really miss this restaurant called Cebillano and we are going there today before we leave. I will miss other food too and the restaurant called Nami. Also, I will miss my violin teacher Carina who is sad I am going. My gymnastics teacher Jaime was really nice to me and is sad too. On my last day, all the girls in gymnastics lined up to say goodbye and they were pushing each other so they could hug me. I am happy to go home and see my friends like Nora and my family like my cousins, aunts, uncles, grandmothers and grandfathers.  That is all I want to say.

Aileen
Like everyone else, I have a lot of mixed feelings about leaving Peru. On one hand, I am very excited to be going home, and really looking forward to seeing our family and friends. On the other hand, there are also a lot of people and things I will really miss. Of course, we will sorely miss the fun-loving Meza-Romero family, who've included us as part of their family since we first came here last year.  Also, the other moms at Hannah's gymnastics program were so sweet about saying goodbye to me, bringing in treats and presents for our last day at the gym. I guess some kind of solidarity formed after sitting together for hours in that frigid gym on those concrete bleachers.

Below is a picture from the classroom at Unamonos, the school for special needs children where I volunteered. The teacher, Giovanna, has worked there for about 15 years, and she'll be managing a classroom of 8 moderate to severely disabled kids on her own. Martita, on the left, is one of the higher functioning kids in the classroom. She can speak, feed, toilet, and dress herself independently, and is very helpful with the other kids and keeping the classroom tidy. But sweet little Martita is also as stubborn a kid as you'll ever meet. On the right, Nicole is also very high functioning, and is surprisingly good at doing jigsaw puzzles. Unfortunately, the teachers say that in the years she's been there, her eyesight has gotten steadily worse, and the decline hasn't shown any signs of slowing. These are just two of the sweeties who gave my experience here in Peru extra meaning.

The other night we spent a few hours looking at all of the pictures from our last two years. It was incredible to see how much Emma and Hannah have grown in every way. This has been an amazing experience for them and in some ways I am sorry it is coming to and end.
 

A New Adventure

Back in March I promised myself that I would not start looking for a job until we returned to the USA and got settled in. Well, to make a long story short I did not keep that promise and now I am heading home three weeks earlier than planned in order to do some job interviews. This all happened very quickly and I still have a million things to do before I leave tomorrow.  I feel like someone pulled a rug out from under me; actually, it feels more like I just stepped on a rake.

I have not had much time to say goodbye to Arequipa and all the people we have met, and that has been difficult. I am going to miss waking up in the shadow of 18,000 foot volcanoes and then walking to the neighborhood bakery while listening to a flock of wild parrots. I am going to miss our neighborhood, with its cobble stone streets and old granite buildings squeezed between snazzy new apartment buildings. I am going to miss the perpetually sunny skies. I am going to miss all of the friends we made during our 10 months in Peru. I am going to miss the lady who sells newspapers, they guy at the corner store, the illegal DVD salesman, and all of the wonderful people we have crossed paths with. Mostly, I am going to miss my family and though we will only be part for 3 weeks, I know it is going to be a lonely time for me.

Though there are many things I am going to miss, I am very excited about what comes next (whatever that may be). In the meantime, Emma, Hannah, and Aileen are going to have some quality girl time together and I have some really exciting job opportunities.  Also, I get see our friends and family in the Bay Area three weeks earlier than expected.

I have many more things to say but now is not the time to ruminate on our two years away from the USA...that will come later.  Instead, here are some photos

Jeff

Breakfast in bed for fathers day

Marco Guitarco

Karina Violina

Maria + family

Hannah as class leader

Familia Meza-Romero

Jaime the gymnastics guy

Friend Marcio + family

Trekking in the Cordillera Blanca

The Cordillera Blanca is one of the highest and most beautiful mountain ranges in the world. It was made famous by the book and movie "Touching the Void" in which British climber Joe Simpson makes and incredible self-rescue after being left for dead by his climbing partner. We were not planning any death-defying adventures -  just a 5 day trek on the Santa Cruz trail, considered one of the best hikes in the world. Unlike many Kositsky-Huang adventures, this one had no major travel delays, forgotten items, or unexpected surprises - just an amazing week in the mountains.

We only had a limited period of time as the girls were on school vacation, so we flew to Lima on a Saturday and spent the night near the airport (rather than take the bus). The next day we flew on a small plan to Huaraz, the biggest town in the northern Andes of Peru. Once we got settled into our Bed and Breakfast we strolled around town, got some supplies for our trek, and rode an alpaca around the plaza.

On Monday we took an acclimatization hike to a lagoon with Milagros, an employee of the guide service we used for the trek (Adventure Travel Agency Huascaran). It was a nice easy hike but the altitude definitely tired us out.

The next day we were picked up at the Bed and Breakfast around 6:00am and drove a few hours to Huascaran National Park to start our trek. We set up camp (well, our guide Epi set up camp) and then did another acclimatization hike to Laguna 69 which was at about 14,000 feet. It was an incredibly beautiful spot.

On Wednesday we took public transportation to the town of Vaqueria where we met the mule skinner Hoshe and assistant guide/cook Fidel (all 3 guides were from the Andes and spoke Quechua as their first language).  This was the real start of our trek. We hiked through a few mountain villages before making it to our camp at Paria. As you can see in the photos, camp was a pretty luxury set up - we had sleeping tents, a kitchen tent, dining tents and a potty tent. It was also pretty darn beautiful.

Thursday was our hardest day, walking from Paria to Taullipampa.The hike took about 8 hours and brought us over a pass called Punta Union which is at 15,600 feet.The girls did great, but Hannah took advantage of the "taxi service" (aka a horse).  While walking with the guide managing the horse, I got to listen to his anti-Jewish tirade. I then realized the "shaloms" as he called them were not Jews in general, but Israeli tourists (who can be quite obnoxious). I explained the difference between Jews and Israeli's but did not have the heart to tell him I am Jewish as he would have been horrified.

We were allowed to sleep late the next day because it was so cold in the morning. When we finally got up, we had breakfast and hiked about five hours to our camp at Llamacorral.We passed some beautiful mountains, including the famous Alpamayo.We then hiked for miles through a valley that was devastated by a huge landslide, offering us a glimpse of the awesome power of nature. I hate to use such a cliche, but there is no other way to describe it.

Saturday we made the five hour hike to Cashapampa where we were met by a van that took us back to Huaraz.We said goodbye to all of our guides and of course the horse that made Hannah's trip more enjoyable.

That evening we had an amazing meal at a pub that serves British-style curry as well as some Mexican food.

It was an amazing trek through some stunning mountains.  As usual, our pictures do not do it justice but it is a trip we would highly recommend.  Actually, if had more time (and money), we would have opted for a longer trip. One of the best parts of our week in the mountains was watching Emma and Hannah delight in the wilderness and in each other. They had a wonderful time making up stories and games as they hiked, exploring the mountains, and building fairly habitats at each of our campsites (there are some very lucky Andean fairies out there).  They also spent a great deal of time just being goofy, entertaining hundreds at restaurants, plazas, villages and airports throughout Peru.