Got back from Peru yesterday lunchtime, and I can honestly say I don’t know if it’s cloudy or bright (thanks, Messrs Dubin and Warren). So much has happened in the last 10 days that I feel as if two years must have passed. And on the other hand, I can be doing something and think that only ten minutes have elapsed, when really an hour has gone by. Tomorrow I must resume responsibility for the hearts and souls of literally thousands of students, but in the meantime I don’t know if it’s Tuesday or Selfridges. Hopefully a good night’s sleep will sort this little conundrum out.
Trekking the Andes (and btw, it wasn’t the Inca Trail, but a – much tougher, higher, and generally more extreme – Inca trail) was so much more than I thought it would be… the best of times, and the worst of times. I can’t even begin to summarize here, so will have to work on a blow-by-blow account on another page. But I can now say that I have survived bigtime altitude sickness, camping at -5 degrees C, climbing over 2500 ft in three hours and descending the same before lunch, close proximity to llamas, and serious digestive discomfort, all framed by the vicissitudes of travelling stateside by air and its attendant indignities visited on the person by so-called security officials. Can’t wait to go to AMS conference in LA in November. The challenges will be slightly different, of course, but equally character-building. OK, so maybe not so different, what with hotel air conditioning and all – except LA is at sea level.