Back to Puno....PART TWO! :)

After an eight month break, I return to sharing my adventures of An American among Aymaras. This means, of course, that I am returning to Puno Peru!!! :) I returned to the U.S. in early June after spending 10 months as a fulbright scholar in Puno. I spent the rest of the summer working at Concordia Language Villages, and then returned to Washington, D.C. to continue my Master's degree in International Peace and Conflict Resolution.

So...I'm pulled out a 205 page thesis and now all my grades, paperwork, etc. are finished at school, and I'm officially a MA graduate (woohoo)!! Next up, I'm returning to Lake Titicaca!!!

Of course some of you may know part of the reason why I am returning...others may not, so I'll lay out my reasons for you here:

As my family and best friends know...my choice to move back to Puno is two-fold. On the one hand, I fell in love. Of course, I am in love with the country, the cultures, the food, and the friends I have made, but also with a very amazing Peruvian guy. If you have read any of my earlier blog entries, you have surely seen his name pop up from time to time. Enrique (who I normally just call Qiqe) and I became close friends when I arrived in late 2006. Since then, our friendship has grown (blah blah and all that cutsy lovey dovey stuff)....

Let's just fastforward to a year after we met (September 2007). I went down to Lima to see Qiqe for a week while he was applying for his tourist visa at the US Embassy (come on, can you blame me....I found a $300 ticket from DC to Lima!!!!). We decided then to formalize our relationship and become boyfriend/girlfriend (not a marriage proposal, mother!!!!). After receiving his visa, Qiqe took his first trip to the US in December to spend the holidays with me and my family in Minnesota (please enjoy the pictures of a Peruvian in the winter wonderland that is Minnesota. The snowblower shot is my favorite...his first time in the snow!!

Back in Puno, I will also be returning to do some really fantastic work. I'm extremely excited to share it with you all, but for the time being, I will just give you the general explanation. My intention is to develop my work more fully and continually update efforts on this blog, as well as share fun stories just like old times.

So basically, my project is to create a socially consientious dining experience for international tourists in Puno, Peru. Qiqe and I will mesh our love for quality Peruvian cuisine, highland produce, and rural development. We will work to

develope a fair trade focused restaurant (in his already highly successful tourist restaurant, Mojsa. The project will provide a market for rural producers under specific set of agreements to ensure the premium we provide for their product will be returned in the community as social development for community needs (sanitation, education, irrigation improvements). Also, we will share our efforts and the local realities with tourists, encouraging them to understand and support the efforts to improve rural living and working conditions in a more sustainable and collaborative approach.

There's a lot of work to be done, and I will have a lot to learn. I hope you will all join me on this exciting adventure! I will be leaving for Puno in 9 days, 1 hour and 30 minutes (not that I'm counting!!!) hahaha!