It’s our last day in Asia. We have a 7 AM flight tomorrow to Lima (through Tokyo and Houston). Due to the dateline we depart 7AM on the 12th and arrive at 10PM on the 12th (total transit time is 27 hours). Trying to find a room at midnight when completely exhausted is an easy way to be robbed, so we booked something for our first night. We have one day in Lima then fly to Tarapoto on the 14th, from which we take a bus to Lagunas, spend one night there, then head into the Amazon for ten days.

Today, we went to The Expat Teacher’s school and talked with kids at lunch about our careers. We’ve sent off our last package home, and now have slightly lighter packs than when we started, since some clothes will not be needed in the rainforest.

We watched Lincoln last night and had a discussion about why we found it riveting but Mr. Expat Teacher’s students (he teaches history) find it boring. I think it’s a bit like Dickens – because the language is subtle and at times playful, you have to enjoy that kind of word play. Just a hypothesis.

We will be home in just over two weeks – I have started to have to handle a few work things (arranging a course I am teaching in the spring) since we will be completely disconnected once in the rainforest. I am so glad that we spent the effort on this blog, not only for the benefit of our friends and family, but also so we have detailed memories we can re-read. I chatted with my department chair before I left, and she commented that her family was on the 5 year anniversary of their year long travel journey; each day, they sat down together and looked back on where they were five years ago, recalling many details and reliving the experience. Maybe we should try the same thing in 2017-18.

— The Professor