Guest Blog...traveling with Cassill

Manu Cloud Forest

Chillin' Monkeys

Becky and her alpaca

Becky's favorite lunch spot

Becky tries her hand at archery (look at the concentration)

Hello all...my name is Tara and I'm a friend of Becky's from Deloitte and I'm this weeks guest blogger.

I happened to run into my old mentor (and Becky's) from Deloitte at a client in February. She asked if I had heard from Becky lately and I must say I felt a bit embarrassed to say no. I had not talked to Beck since a short time after her wedding when we met up for lunch at a now defunct restaurant. That being said I had no idea Ben was overseas serving our country (Thanks Ben!) nor did I have any clue that Beck had decided to travel the southern hemisphere. Beth (our old mentor) was kind enough to forward on Becky's blog and I immediately emailed her and asked what her schedule was so I could find a place to meet her. Although I am not the globetrotter Becky is I had been longing to get out and travel again. After a few emails back and forth it looked like Peru was going to be where we met up. Cheryl, my coworker, decided to come along and plans began to form (after busy season was done of course). Flights were booked, trains were arranged, passports were applied for (of course I had to reapply for a passport since I had no idea where mine was), backpacks were packed and one last shopping trip to Target was made and we were off to Peru!

It is odd to think that I had to travel to the Southern hemisphere to meet up with Becky for the first time in about six months...but you gotta do what you gotta do. As you can tell from her blog the trip was very busy. We were constantly jetting off here and there sprinkled in with a little relaxation! I won't go into the details as Becky did an amazing job of capturing our time together! Peru was an amazing country and the people were very friendly. The landscape was literally breathtaking (i mean how can it not be when you are hiking ancient ruins at 10,000 feet). On a daily basis we stumbled our way through Spanish, dodged alpacas on the street, stopped by an "annual" festival or two, paid to use bathrooms that may have existed at the time of Inca rule and had a pisco sour or two! For any one who may worry about Becky as she travels it may help to know she survived a walk in the rain forest where natives were recently seen (see attached link Rare uncontacted tribe photographed in Amazon http://www.reuters.com/article/email/idUSN2938303320080529). Sure that isn't exactly where we were but our new best friend Phillipe the one-eyed machete wielding Peruvian shared his experience with the natives with us...lets say that it ended up with him fleeing to the beach to spend the night! Did I also mention Phillipe saw a jaguar just a few weeks before in the very spot we ate lunch? All joking aside Becky is traveling safe (besides that little mishap with the ATM card). Her wonderful personality makes it very easy for people who don't speak the same language to be willing to help her find her way around.

I would like to thank Ben's parents for their hospitality in Cuzco. It was wonderful to meet them! And Becky, thank you for allowing me to share a little piece of your adventure with you. A piece of advice for the rest of your trip...avoid Puno during a strike, sharing a seat with a large Peruvian woman for an hour and a half gets very uncomfortable! Plus all the glass and boulders in the road making traveling a bear!

Thanks for allowing me to be your guest blogger and I can't wait to hear about the rest of your travels when you arrive back from Greece. Enjoy your time with Ben! Safe travels!

I've included some pictures but I couldn't figure out how to put them at the bottom so they are all at the top...I am sure you will see why she didn't include some of them!