A Peruvian Honeymoon

I'm sure you'll all excuse me for my lack of posts this summer - with our wedding and honeymoon I haven't had a lot of time to keep up! I am only now cracking down on my real planning for the new school year. That's a lot of catching up I want to do...
Jeff and I returned last week from our two and a half weeks in Peru, which we both agree was a great honeymoon choice. This country is so beautiful! Low sweeping valleys topped with snow-capped peaks and a fantastic sunset really can't be beat, I've learned. We did a more traditional tour, sticking mostly to the south and then {of course} heading up to Machu Picchu. 

We saw so many great things! Penguins, sea lions and pelicans in Paracas, the beautifully ornate and centuries-old Cathedral of Santo Domingo in Cusco, the floating reed islands of Lake Titicaca, and the perfectly-formed active volcano El Misti in Arequipa. {And plenty more!}

As it's called, the culinary scene in Peru is quite spectacular - especially, in my opinion, in Cusco. This is the trip during which my husband and I realized {admitted?} that we are "food travelers," so to speak. We had everything from red wine sorbet {Amazing! Will be looking out for a recipe.} to guinea pig {not so much}, and squid-ink pasta with coconut milk, lemongrass and prawns {double amazing!} to the beloved Peruvian pisco sour. Pisco is a locally-made grape brandy {that I don't much care for}, and the drink is made with a bar mix, some sugar, and frothy egg white on the top. Had to try it, though! Mostly, we had fantastic food - I was more than impressed. We had ceviche {I'll try to share our recipe a little later - it's super easy to make and great as a salsa}, a whiskey-drenched brownie topped with chocolate mousse and house-made mint jellies, and awesome bacon avocado sandwiches. I love how creative people get with food...especially since I am not. At all.

Basically, I can't wait to go back to South America! We skipped the Amazon this time because everything was a bit tight time-wise for medication. But we can always get there through Brazil or a longer time in Colombia on another trip! I have to say, being a teacher offers lots of room to explore this great world of ours, and being married to a teacher means I can share it with all with my best friend and the greatest travel companion.

One more week until we go back to Kuwait... I'm still working on a few things I want to share on TpT and TN, including my circus-themed Morning Meeting package. I'm really excited to implement this in my classroom, as I think a morning sharing time will really help to foster that classroom community I so wish for. We still have a lot of celebrating, visiting, organizing, shopping and packing to do before we go. For now I'm off to strike some things from the list... Thanks for reading!
- Amanda