It was a year of adventures in new countries, time spent with friends and family, and one absolutely shocking loss.
Let's start with the good stuff.
This year's biggest adventure featured three months in South America, starting with two months in Peru between Lima, Arequipa, and Cusco, where we took Spanish classes, saw penguins in the ocean, flamingos and vicuñas in the high desert salt flats, and fighting sea lions in the streets of Pucusana. We peered into Colca Canyon, which is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon and home to massive Andean Condors. During our time in the Peruvian Amazon, we enjoyed the most amazing breakfast on a gravel bar of the Madre de Dios River with parrots, parakeets and macaws flying overhead. A night hike thru a water-filled cave where we found Tailless Whip Scorpions and bats was Asher's favorite. We visited Machu Picchu and so many archeological sites. We ate LOTS of ceviche in Lima, tried alpaca and cuy (guinea pig) in Cusco, held a toucan and pet a water buffalo. We toured a nearly 500yr old monastery and saw the actual body of a child who had been sacrificed to a volcano six centuries ago. We saw snow-capped volcanoes, glaciers, and seaside cliffs. We stood at Patapampa Pass, our highest elevation yet, 16,108ft! I dealt with altitude sickness, and we all experienced food sickness. Asher's sickness had the worst timing, forcing him to miss magnificent Machu Picchu. We held baby alpacas and were shocked to learn they are still used in ritual sacrifices today. A local fisherman took us out in the rough waters off of the coast of Peru for fishing and birding. We spent two weeks with a family who is doing wonderful things for children in tough situations, and got to play with the children.
Our final month was spent in Brazil, Argentina, and Chile, plus day trips to Paraguay and Uruguay. We rode funiculars in Valparaiso, a cable car in Santiago and tuk tuks in Sacred Valley. We experienced one of the world's largest waterfalls, Iguazu, from both Brazil and Argentina. We hiked "giants" and cerros. In Brazil we learned um pouco Portuguese, but mostly "não falo Portugués." We ate paos and a cheeseburger drowning in cheese sauce. We walked to Paraguay and took a ferry to Uruguay. Asher fished in four of the countries, all but Paraguay.
During our time in South America, I saw 452 species of birds, 259 were lifers for me! We saw Cappuchin monkeys, Wooly monkeys, Titi monkeys, Howler Monkeys, a Capybara family, a Rainbow Boa, Agoutis, bats, a Bamboo rat, Tailess Whip scorpians, and lots of spiders, caterpillars and butterflies!
Now the gut punch...
One morning in March, my dad called with horrible news. My aunt, who had become one of my closest friends, had died in her sleep. She was in good health so this was TOTALLY unexpected. Journey and I flew to Ohio for her funeral, and visited her house for what would end up being the very last time. Her husband and her dearly loved miniature schnauzer, Zoie, died just five months later. While it's been very difficult for us, she was a Christ-follower, so we know we will see her again in eternity.
When Daddy picked us up from the airport afterwards, we went directly to my friend, Lisa's, beach house in St Pete for a few days of processing and healing before returning home.
Mama went to summer camp! Thanks to Lisa, in June I had the fantastic opportunity to attend the Harold Albers Teacher Ecology Camp in St Pete, three days of hands-on learning about aquatic wildlife and organisms by drag-netting the bay for species counts, dissecting a lion fish, inspecting actual sharks, finding and identifying dolphins. It was absolutely wonderful, and I got to stay with Lisa!
A couple of months before our big trip, we decided as a family to try a vegan lifestyle for one month. It went well and some of us stayed with it until some time in Peru. Little did I know, this would become a more permanent change for me. When we returned home Daddy and I both had food allergy and sensitivity testing. Mine came back indicating allergies to cow milk, wheat, and shrimp, and sensitivities to eggs and nuts. Daddy's main culprit is gluten and coconut. Sometime after the alpaca debacle (Journey ate some and then experienced deep regret due to how cute they are), she decided no more meat for her. So now eating for our family who ate literally anything and everything has become quite complicated. We're still figuring it out...
A trip up north for Christmas gave us the opportunity to visit with family, plus our Israeli friends, the Fugates at their new property, and the O'Briens.
This December officially concluded my term as president of my local birding club. I'm proud of our accomplishments, specifically growing the membership, increasing diversity, creating branding and a new website. I had fun participating in the June challenge with my friends. I ended the year with a total of 683 species, my second highest year. And a life list of 1570!
