We're Still Adventuring!

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Yikes! We have been really good at not keeping up with the blog, and especially so since there have been so many bloggable moments!

A quick catch up! Kevin worked a lot, we went to Maine for Christmas/(South American) summer break, went skiing at Bretton Woods, Abby broke her leg (not while skiing!) -> surgery -> crutches for months, we GOT ENGAGED!, back to Peru for the second half of the semester, Abby is learning to walk again.

Life in Lima has been different without the ability to move around as easily as we'd enjoyed last year but we've been up to the challenge (with a lot of help from our friends). Kevin learned how to make the ATM work in Spanish so we can still pay for stuff, the grocery store does delivery, we take more cabs, we've learned to navigate the health care system. It's working.

But where has the time gone? It doesn't feel like I year but our time in Peru is down to just weeks now. This has us thinking about what's we'll be bringing back from our adventure. Literally, as in what can we fit in our luggage, but more metaphysically - what do we take away from our adventure. One of the things that has impacted me (Kevin) the most is our relationship to our environment. I've also seen the impact of a city of millions of people without an efficient system for public transportation. The air is not clean. Being exposed to transportation less, since I work from home and can go weeks without going further than I can walk, I have found that when I do have to use a cab I really notice how much pollution is coming from vehicles. My biggest take away is that we cannot afford to scale our current consumption and pollution at current levels into the future. I'm committing myself to finding ways to reduce my environment impacts in the coming years (using more solar energy, electric vehicles, etc).

Another realization we've had is the importance of family. We've had fun on our time away and we've made efforts to keep in touch but there is something to be said for proximity. I'm very comfortable and I've found my productivity increase working remotely, but on the personal side of the coin I haven't been able to find the same equation of benefits. Miles matter when you hear about a family member in the hospital and can't be there. We knew that part would be hard, and it has been.

So far, our adventure has been everything we'd hoped it would be, and more. It has been fun, brought Abby and I closer together and given us perspective on this planet we share. We're looking forward to making the best of our remaining weeks in Lima but also to getting back and enjoy the summer with our Maine friends and family.
Location: Lima, Peru

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