Inka Road Project: Peru/Ecuador/Colombia

One of my colleagues retired in April, leaving two project managers. He had two very big projects. The math's pretty simple. Sadly, not only did we lose a great colleague, but we also had our workloads dramatically increased. In theory, we could move some other projects over to the new PM, but that person still isn't hired and now we're under a hiring freeze. Grmpf. 

But, for me, it means working on a project of great interest to me personally: the Inka Road Project. Yes, despite the increased workload, I think myself pretty lucky. More so, because I was elected to be part of the team for the final research trip. Yes, those Spanish lessons are paying off!

The plan was simple: the curator and research assistant would leave for Peru in mid-June, and get in a solid week of fieldwork on the last remaining script items. I would join them a week later for a bit of fieldwork and some of the professional/diplomatic meetings. The research assistant would leave after the second week, and I'd go with the curator to Ecuador and Colombia, finishing the fieldwork, doing advance work for other components of the project, and doing some handling object purchasing for the family centers. (Yes, in some way, that will be my project forever.) I'd be gone 3.5 weeks, with the last couple of days as leave to visit with friends in Ecuador.

As we all know, the best-laid plans..... 

One friend here in DC insisted that my trip was like a movie script. I kept saying it was just travel. But when she listed the things that had happened -- illnesses, car accidents, kidnappings, erupting volcanoes -- I had to agree that this one was a bit unusual. So, I've been back now for a couple of weeks. I'm still working on my trip report and follow-up from the meetings, but I'm sorting photos and ready to write. Apologies for the delay! Here's the story. Enjoy!!

Yes, I made it to Machu Picchu.