PERÚ it may concern

During my first couple weeks with the AASD, the office was abuzz with preparations for the launch of a Kickstarter fundraising campaign to support the organization's next project, Opening the Earth: The Potato King . The money raised through this campaign will support the organization in the making of a documentary that emphasizes an indigenous andean community's strengths and it's role in agricultural biodiversity at a global level. The project is named after the chakitaqlia, an andean footplow used for the sacred act of opening the earth that dates back to the time of the Inca Empire. This short documentary will highlight the story of Julio Hancco, a farmer and guardian of agricultural biodiversity who grows more than 300 varieties of potatoes in a high-altitude community of the Peruvian Andes. As described on the campaign's page, "Julio's humble life contrasts with the global significance of agricultural biodiversity. World famous chefs, international...

The AASD office building is not only the organization’s workspace but also home to me and two other kick ass ladies. Lucky for me, both Jenna and Gaelen are easy-going, amazing chefs in the kitchen, and love watching The Mindy Project (and Broad City now that I’ve introduced them to it!) to the same, borderline obsessive, extent that I do. Even though the rest of my co-workers don’t live with us, most meals are family style around the office’s small kitchen table or out together at a nearby restaurant and if we’re not too sick of each other by the end of the work week our hangouts continue throughout the weekend. Home // Office Roomies! Eggs benny over latkes Quinoa and bean burgers with a side of slaw My room at the office is cozy and perfect. It’s located in a smaller building in the backyard in between two other rooms. The room on the right is the office of our Lead Ag Technician, Julio, and on the left is the soon-to-be bedroom of Andrew, one of my favorite MI...

The years following my Peace Corps service in Peru have quickly added up and this blog has yet to find the closure it deserves. Reading through my last post, written over two years ago, I can see that the promised stories and photos chronicling the many goodbyes and the travels that followed with my cousin Gabriel never found their way here. Though I do intend to follow through on that promise, I’m gonna skip ahead for now and explain how I ended back up in Peru for a third time (that’s right, Round Three!). So much has happened in the past couple years that Peru: Round Two never even hit the radar of this blog! But I’m getting ahead of myself again. Let’s rewind just a bit… After the goodbyes, the close of service paperwork, and the wild travel adventures, I made it back home by mid-November 2014; just in time to celebrate my niece Lotus’s 4 th birthday, send my sister off to her senior year winter formal, and enjoy a long-awaited, gluttonous Perez Family holiday season. Anyone ...