Month in Review

Since our adventure in the Valle de Volcanes last month we have not had any monumental expat experiences. Life just chugs along and we now feel very settled here; this makes the fact we are leaving in just 2 months seem a bit sad. Here are some photos of our everyday life in Arequipa.

Being overseas often feels like an extended vacation but nothing brings one back down to earth than a trip to the hospital. Here is a picture of Hannah after she sprained her ankle in gymnastics.

Bullfighting is a big thing in Arequipa and Jeff got dragged off to a championship event and he won enough money gambling to buy beer for his entire section.

Mollendo is the Wildwood of Arequipa (sorry for obscure the PA/NJ reference) so we felt obligated to visit this beach resort; we waited for the off season and though the weather was not great we enjoyed having the place to ourselves.

Homework takes up much of our waking hours (even on the weekends).  Here is one of Emma's time-consuming school projects that she is clearly very proud of. She only got a B because she refused to include Pluto as a planet in her solar system model.

Mothers’ Day is the biggest non-religious holiday in Latin America and we were more than willing to participate in the Peruvian national pastime of mother worship. Our weekend-long celebration started with a school performance that the girls participated in and of course included breakfast in bed (photo deleted to preserve marital harmony).

We were thrilled to have a visit from our friend Elizabeth who did a great job entertaining our children; she also entertained the adults by dragging us on a rafting trip in the nearby Rio Chili.

We were also thrilled to have our friend Maurcio and his family visit us for lunch as we have been trying to get together for over a month.

There you have it - a pretty typical month in Arequipa. Our next post should be more exciting as we will soon be trekking in the Cordillera Blanca, one of the most beautiful mountain ranges in the world.