Pre-Rhinebeck Rush

I'm running on three hours' sleep, haven't packed, have to drop the car off at the garage (which is, admittedly, only a two minute walk away) and we're supposed to be loaded up and on our way in a few hours. Since we got home from Peru a scant 107 hours ago, I've spent 45 hours or so working, 4 hours commuting, and most of the rest sleeping, doing homework and trying to spend what little time was left with David.

So it is in that spirit that I offer you this random photo from Peru:



If you will be looking for us at Rhinebeck this weekend, please note that we will be in a different spot from previous years. Up until now we've been in Barn 39, which is where Franklin will be signing copies of his book on Saturday. This year, however, we will be in Barn 31, which has a highly-coveted cement floor instead of sometimes-beetle-larvae-infested bark mulch.

In case a visual will help, here is the interactive ("I do not think it means what you think it means.") map lifted shamelessly from the festival website.



The weather is supposed to be perfect for warm woolies this weekend, so we hope to see you there!

A Quickie

Not really any time to write anything. We have an early morning tomorrow and I've been dealing with the mild-but-a-bit-of-a-nuisance fallout from what was most likely a contaminated, albeit very yummy, tomato yesterday evening (though I haven't ruled out something in my lunch sandwich).

Anyway, today was a national holiday here in Peru, and the naval hero who lost his life in that battle has a statue in his honor at the traffic rotary by our hotel. This meant a military band and parade in front of the hotel rather early this morning. They didn't roust me out of bed very effectively, but I did manage to get a few pics at the end of the proceedings.







And this is the view from our hotel room of the volcano Misti, whence comes the name of Misti Alpaca yarn company.



Tomorrow it's back to Lima for another night and several more meetings before we catch a Friday night redeye home.

Another Reason to Love Peru

Saludos Desde Perú!

After a night to rest up in Lima, we hopped on a plane to Arequipa this morning, and Christine snapped this shot with my phone just after we got off the plane. The mountain in the background is a volcano, one of three visible from the city, called Chachani.

We're about another half a mile higher up than Denver here, and I'm feeling it just a little bit - mostly needing to take more deep breaths. David, however, is a firm believer in the local tradition of coca leaf tea, so I'm following his lead. Hopefully I won't be required to take a pee test anytime soon after our return! Oh, and the food here is nothing short of phenomenal.

More photos will follow, but I need to be working on some homework just now. And to the raffle winners, all the franticness (franticity? franticosity?) of late prevented me from getting items into the mail before we left, but it's just a matter of getting the packages ready and down to the post office. I shall e-mail all when things are sent out.