New Year's, Arequipa, Katie and William

A lot has happened since my last post, but I am finding it difficult to find the time to write. We recently had a flurry of activity here, starting with the Thanksgiving holiday, then both Anthony's and my birthday celebrations, and ending with the 12 Days of Christmas and the culmination of 2008 with our New Year's Eve van celebation (which includes me, Ali, Anthony and a Nalgene bottle full of wine in a rented van, cruising through Lima on the way to the airport to pick up Katie and William).

2009 already began with a bang, not to mention a totally deserved hangover (read the aforementioned bit about that Nalgene bottle full of wine), and a whirlwind tour of Arequipa. We had friends from the U.S. in Peru for 2 weeks, while I diligently tried to get SOME grad school work done, and now it's time to become a hermit once again, and work my tail off until I finish this annotated bibliography that's kicking my tush. There is a lot of work to do, but when it's done, I'm celebrating by traveling to the U.S. to see family, friends, and doctors, to take a few potentially career-altering tests, and to attend Jeff and Liz's wedding.

In the meantime (i.e. while I continue to ignore this blog), I've posted a couple pictures of what you've missed...

(Yeah, that would be me, attempting to make hot chocolate on New Year's Eve and failing miserably to get it into the cups.)

Katie has this thing about posing for pictures. This would be us skipping (like dorks) through the Santa-whatever Monastery in Arequipa.

Me, Katie and William somewhere in the desert that is Arequipa, with a lonely vicuna in the background.

How I LOVE the baby animals! Chivay is in the background...

I made Katie and William help paint a school as part of their penance for visiting me. Their reward was to watch me and Ali play frisbee on the beach (Punta Rocas).

They're just happy because they were finally going paragliding.