A few months after our May concert we were off as a family to explore our Latin American heritage (from our Peruvian mother). And yes, we did bring our guitars!

First stop: Cusco, Peru where we spent five days in the epicenter of the old Inca Empire, known as the Sacred Valley, which includes amazing natural beauty, incredible museums and ruins and engineering marvels of irrigation still functioning after several centuries and, of course, the awesome Machu Picchu. Then it was off to Santiago, Chile were we enjoyed this modern city with its rich legacy of religious artifacts and live processions from the Catholic tradition but we also visited (and served as volunteers at) the stunning new Baha’i House of Worship in the foothills of the Andes (which still had bit of snow because it is their wintertime in July).

Then it was back to the “new” Peruvian capital of Lima for five days, which included visits with family, a huge city park dedicated to glorious water fountains of all sizes and an impressive laser light show. Then we traveled down the coast to visit the abandoned slave tunnels of Chincha, the glorious sea life on the cost of Paracas, the gigantic sand dunes of Huacachina (where we “snowboarded” down the dunes) and then flew over the famous and mysterious Nazca Lines.

On the way home we spent five days in Panama City, Panama, with its impressive Canal, appreciated its long cultural and pirate-filled history of “North meets South and West meets East” and got a chance to swim in the warm waters of the Pacific. Here we also visited another Baha’i House of Worship and played music at both a local private school and ESL program at the local university which are helping children from all social classes prepare for a positive future. What a great trip!!