It's Hard to Beat a Kid's Birthday Party for Authentic

A trip to conduct field research in Peru with a two-year-old along is not easy. Definitely not easy. But having a two-year-old in tow also opens doors to things we would never be able to experience otherwise. Last weekend was a great example. We were invited to TWO birthday parties for other kids in the Little Lady's pre-school. We could only attend one. Details after the jump.

Markets: Ground Zero for Getting to Know a Place

We are fortunate that so many of our trips are actually short-term moves. It allows us to really live in a place and experience much more like a local. But one of the things that we have always found make a new place feel like home can also be replicated on shorter trips - visiting a local market. More on our Lima market experience so far after the jump.

The Transition to Lima Begins

Today marks our second full day in Peru, and we have been working hard to make the transition to life here as smooth and as quick as possible. The first few days in a new place are always hectic. And when field research needs to begin and you only have about three months to work, the pressure is on to get up and running as quickly as possible. So here is a bit about our trip to Lima and what we've been up to since our flight landed around 1 am on Thursday morning.

Don't Forget to Plan for Emergencies

A few weeks ago, we discovered in rather dramatic fashion, that the Little Lady has a very severe allergy to cashew (and pistachio) nuts, as well as a milder reaction to several other tree nuts. This happened while we were in Florida, and I confess we really hadn't made an emergency plan. Fortunately, things worked out and we were in a context where we basically knew what to do. But when traveling internationally, it's important to have a plan in place before you go. And for us, that has gotten even more important. I'll tell you what happened and how we've planned for the worst when we go to Peru for field work this summer.

Gearing Up: Planning Mode for Peru and Puerto Rico!

I've been off the blog for a bit. I try not to say things when I don't have anything to say. Well, I'm going to have more to say soon. At the moment, I'm in the midst of planning two trips. One for business (and some pleasure, I'm sure) to Peru and the other for a pre-academic conference extended family trip in Puerto Rico. More after the jump.

Navigation: Free GPS at Home or Abroad

When I'm traveling, I like to explore. And part of the fun is getting a little bit lost sometimes. But more often than not, I have a destination in mind. And when I do, I want to get there. GPS navigation is a fantastic, easy-to-use, and highly effective tool in this situation. But how do you use GPS, particularly in international destinations, without buying expensive maps or using your smartphone and paying rip-off roaming data rates? I'll tell you. . .

Can't Say Anything about Paris that Hasn't Been Said . . .

But I can at least say a little about what we enjoyed and why we enjoyed it. I've put this post off for a while in part because life has just gotten very busy now that we're back in Knoxville. But it's also feels a little futile to post about Paris, where we spent our last several days before returning to the US. Lots of words, by people much more insightful than me, have been written. But here goes anyway.