A Year in Review

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Friends! I can't believe that 2009 has flown by and what a busy year it has been for me.

I started the year off continuing my business travels to the Arctic Midwest of Minnesota. By mid-February, I was fortunate to have a change in staffing and landed a four month project through a special program that Accenture sponsors. Accenture Development Partnerships (ADP) is a division within Accenture that allows employees to work with NGOs and work in developing countries. My client, Ashoka, sent me to Lima, Peru, to work for the months of May and June. While there, I worked with my client during the day, took Spanish classes at night, and explored the city on the weekends. (Earlier posts this year gives detailed information regarding my time in Peru.) The four month project extended to 7 1/2 months, and I was lucky to spend the rest of the summer working in the DC metro area, coming home each night and sleeping in my own bed. What a treat that was! In late September/early October I began working in NYC for a new client. This role is a great opportunity and am enjoying being in NYC. I am working with some really smart and talented people and learning much. I also enjoy that I am staying in the same time zone for once (so much nicer on my body) and that I can always get home! No more getting stuck in far-away airports. :-)

At the start of 2009, I also began working with some friends on organizing a humanitarian trip to Guatemala. We travelled to Guatemala in August, and I had one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I have posted more about my Guatemala project on my other blog: http://volunteerforchange.blogspot.com/. The project was extremely rewarding and successful for me personally as well as our group. We had such great response that we have decided to establish ourselves an official non-profit organization and will be organizing three expeditions in 2010. We will go back to Guatemala, as well as travel to Bolivia and Nepal. I am really excited for the opportunities that we have to help make a little bit of difference in the world.

Of course all work and no play makes a pretty sad Sheila, so I also managed to incorporate a few mini-vacations throughout the year. I made several weekend trips to Florida and Utah. I also made my way across the pond to visit my friends in the UK, went to my friends', Emily and Jon, wedding in South Carolina, a girl's weekend out in San Diego, and a weekend of shopping in NYC. At the end of my Expedition in Guatemala, I traveled to Tikal, Guatemala, and Belize, and I am finishing out 2009 in Rome, Italy, and Vienna, Austria.

The past year has been very fruitful and am looking forward to an even better 2010. Thank you for your friendship and love. I wish you a very happy and fruitful 2010.

This is me in Guatemala with one of my new friends, Rudy. Rudy is 10 years old and lives in a small village called Samjote. He lives with his parents, Hector and Maria, and has a younger sister and brother.

This is me and my friend Natalie posing on our hotel terrace in Caye Caulkner in Belize. Caye Caulkner is about a 30 minute or so boat ride from Belize City. This part of the world is so beautiful!

Political Mood in Peru

Some of you may have heard about the political protests that occurred last week in Peru. Here is a link to video that describes more of the situation: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8108388.stm

Riding in the dunes

Watch some footage of riding in the dunes.

Relaxing in the Oasis...

Fiona and I were in search of the sun this weekend. We have not seen the sun since the first weekend we arrived in Lima. So when we decided to go to Nasca, we decided to stay in Ica, an oasis in the middle of the desert...a desert like the Sahara. This place was amazing...it was nice and warm and beautiful.

Here is the hotel we stayed in. It has the best pool I have seen in Peru. Most of the "pools" I have seen have been two feet maximum of water. Not sure I'd call that a pool, but this place was great. Nice, clean and had a warm shower.

Below is a picture of the hamburger royal...they put plantains and a fried egg on the burger. Of course I took those off before eating. We also had fresh fruit juice that was fabulous! We had fresh pineapple, banana, and cantaloupe juice. Awesome stuff.

Here was a friend we made. He wanted to eat our food.

So we decided to hit the desert and experience the thrill of dune buggies and sand boards. I cannot begin to tell you how much fun this was. Fiona and I sat in the from seat so that we could see all the action. This was seriously better than any roller coaster I have ridden, including King's Islands, the Beast! You never knew quite what to expect. We went climbing up walls that seemed impossible to climb and went down slopes that we couldn't directly see the bottom. Our driver took hills and turns at speeds that made us scream out loud. What an exhilarating experience. Below are pictures of the buggies we were riding in.

Below are pictures of the desert. Most of the places we have been, including Lima is the desert. However the landscape has looked very much like parts of southern Utah and Nevada. I was really surprised to see that this desert looks like what I imagine the Sahara Desert to look like (based on movies and pictures). As we sped through the dunes, we came to a stopping point and our driver said "ok, we're getting out and you're going to sandboard." So I was not completely shocked by this as I knew sandboarding was an option; however, I just didn't know what to expect. I most certainly didn't think I would be expected to ride a board down a slope that seemed to be about 75 degree angle as well a it was a pretty long slope. Being afraid of heights, I have to say that I was a little nervous doing this, but after a short tutorial from our guide I was sliding down the slope. I made it down the hill without completely wiping out and it was really fun.

Our guide then took us to two additional spots, each spot getting more complex -- longer, steeper and more complex. I actually loved every minute of it. It was so much fun and a lot easier than I thought it would be. Below are pictures of desert, unfortunately I didn't get any of me sandboarding, but there is a very terrible pic of me in the dunes.

Nasca and the Nasca lines

We ventured outside of Lima this weekend looking for some culture, relaxation and SUN! We found exactly that in Nasca and Ica, Peru. This weekend was filled with a lot of first time events for me. The first of those events was to fly in a small 5 passenger prop plane, a Cesna C 206. In order to really be able to view the Nasca lines we had to fly over the desert. I was amazed at how easy and smooth the take-off and landing were. I hardly noticed both. Unfortunately the in between portion was the more difficult. In order for us to be able to view the lines and to be able to take photos, the pilot maneuvered the plane to the right and left and flew circles over the 12 identified lines. At one point when I thought for sure I was going to loose it (I was thinking: where is Garth and his spew cup?), I had to just stop looking out the window. All in all, it was very cool. Below are pictures of the Nasca Line experience and we even got a certificate of completion upon our return. Woo who! Click to learn more about the Nasca Lines.

















The next three photos are aerial views from the sky.



















































The shark.

















The Humming Bird.




















The monkey.

Have you ever danced in the park?

At the park in the main plaza of Miraflores, people get together to dance all weekend. The atmosphere was quite festive and people were definitely "cutting a rug." It actually reminded me of dancing with my cousin (not sure how many removed, etc.) Gil at my cousing Kathy's wedding. Below is a short video of the festivities.

Museo de la Nación

Yesterday, I went to the Museo de la Nation...a.k.a. the national museum. The paintings and artifacts were very interesting. I was particularly interested in the exhibition on the 6th floor regarding the terrorist attacks by the Shining Path. This was a very sad time in history for the Peruvian people. Che, who is one of our regular taxi drivers, served in the Peruvian military during this time. He talked to us about how troubling this time was for his nation. He also mentioned that they were lucky to get training from the US and Israeli military, which helped them in their efforts to put an end to this madness that existed. This photo exhibit was extremely impactful and reminded me how precious freedom really is.

Also, I also learned how incredibly important the potato industry is to Peru. They had several exhibits on potatoes. In the pictures below, those are real potatoes that they are displaying.