This time it wasn’t NEARLY as difficult as it was when you had to guess Cape Verde, as my 100th country.
The WINNERS of the signed paperbacks were Margriet Smit from Holland who guessed Peru first and Holly from U.K. who guessed BOTH Peru and Bolivia. Our runners-up, Alice Chesworth and Laura Saarniniemi who both guessed Peru, won an ebook of their choice. If there is anyone else that I missed, who also guessed Peru or Bolivia, please shout at me.
I feel I should apologize for my long silence, but I must explain how busy I have been in the past two weeks.
A year ago we made a big outdoor pond and it sat empty until just a couple weeks ago when we finally finished filling it and bought our first ever koi karpers. Orca, Arrow, Glow, Koji, Cheerio, Jack, Sweet pea, Tiger and Shadow are our nine beautiful karpers, all with different colors and patterns, the only animals in our zoo that actually have names that stuck.
As if that weren’t enough, we drove 1.5 hours to pick up a giant second hand 720 litre aquarium which will sit empty in the living room until we return.
We finally finished our upstairs apartment, that included taking a day to tile the deck.
We hosted our VERY first Airbnb guests which was very exciting after hearing so much about Airbnb. If you sign up with me apparently you get $25 credit for your next stay! www.airbnb.com/c/sgrace62?s=8 Does anyone else host or stay as a guest using Airbnb?
The renters left the very same day my brother Skylar and his wife Adriana arrived in Holland for the first time in 6+ years that I have lived here.
We had a great time finally showing them around our neighbourhood and letting him get a taste of our daily lives.
We saw windmills, ate bitterballen, tried as many new beers as we possibly could,
enjoyed the sun drinking coffee in typically European squares, discovered Amsterdam’s canals by boat.
cleaned the house, and practiced flying the bird who has finally grown her flight feathers.
I even managed to harvest my first ever radish. See, who says you can’t have the best of both worlds? I manage to build a stable home, have a zoo, plant a seed, watch it grow AND travel the world. You can do it too.
Aside from the preparations and planning of our 6 week trip, Kees and I managed to shop for backpacks and clothes. I have never had such a hard time packing for a trip before! I mean, how do you pack for a temperature range of -4 to +30C and fit it all into a tiny backpack? The packing part always makes me feel like a fake traveller, because certainly by now I should’ve figured out a better strategy. Almost every time Kees has to sit me down and promise me it’s not the end of the world. What’s the worst that can happen?! In a woman’s mind, A LOT! But luckily women have men to remind them that we certainly can live without all that STUFF.
Leaving my radishes behind, we are off on a new adventure. My biggest worry going to Peru is altitude sickness and getting cold (since it’s their winter). I’ve heard several stories of people not feeling well with the altitude. So, we’ve been hydrating and taking Gingko Biloba in preparation. When the family trekked to Everest Base Camp in Nepal, we all took Gingko and no one in our group got altitude sickness so I am hoping that was the trick, I will keep you posted on that one.
We will see. It’s all about the adventure.
Savannah