This is going to be a good winter

Last night River and I arrived safely and enthusiastically to Huaraz. And, while travelling, Riv was just amazing! She explored, read, talked, listened, watched, slept, and ate with little complaint and a fantastic spirit. Surprisingly, her favorite activity was listening to a Wendy's audio book called "Word Girl" that I loaded on my iPod the day before we left. [I look forward to introducing to her more audio books but without the not-so-subtle manipulations to eat fast food]. And I won't forget River's face when she learned that she did not need to ride in a car seat; at once, it seemed, she expressed confusion, a little fear, and pure elation.

Over the last two days, there have been three of four occasions when feelings of sorrow for not seeing her mami and brother have come to her and powerfully. But any sense of homesickness was lost - or at least distracted - when the door to our June home in Huaraz was opened to the sight of a tiny kitten running accross the floor. Chasing the cat, River darted in the house without greeting her hosts! Also, immediately a friendship was kindled with Ade and Rachel's 3 and 1/2 year old son, Daniel. It pleases and comforts me deeply to see that they are already good buddies (see below).

As for me, I write on a laptop from the second floor of a house recently built on an historic street - the only one, in fact, to have survived Huaraz's 1970 earthquake. From my spot, I can see the summit of Huascaran (22,204 ft) along with at least four other snow-capped peaks, each of which reaches more than 20,000 feet. The government opened the ascent to the summit of Huascaran last week, and so I expect to see more tourists as the city prepares for its regular season of "andenismo."

As for the photos below, with a few obvious exceptions, the images were captured by River with her new digital camera. Enjoy!

Now I'm going to pick up Riv from her first day of SA preschool. From Huaraz...out.