July 16 New York

Well, back in New York and it has been quite an adjustment! It was odd in the beginning because when I would go into a store, I would try and sort out in Portuguese what I needed to say and would then realize that, hey, everyone speaks English here. I started working immediately at the restaurant I worked at before I left and will not be at a loss for practicing my Spanish because 90% of the staff either speak Spanish or are from Latin America, which is great.

It was great to see my family and friends and when the plane touched down in New York, I actually had tears in my eyes. What is not great is working, paying bills, and doing daily errands and cleaning. But, THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME!! Kate went back to England a few days ago after trying fruitlessly to sort out a job but she will be back in August and will attend university full-time.

We could not figure out how to wrap up this web page and decided on a list of statistics of the trip!

HOW MANY/HOW MUCH?

STATISTICS OF OUR TRIP IN SOUTH AMERICA

*11 transportation disasters

*7 countries visited (amazing for a whole year)

*6 visits from friends and family

*116 beds/hammocks/camping sites slept in

*14 times I had my hair dyed (Kate had her hair cut once!)

*19 different modes of transport used (kayak, rowboat, horse, raft, legs, bus, combi, airplane, light aircraft, bicycle, motorcycle, boat, ferry, car, truck, military ambulance, tuktuk, train)

*7 pairs of sunglasses lost or broken

*13 items of clothing lost or stolen (all mine!)

*11 original items that we still have

*9 pieces of jewelry lost

*18 exceptional sights seen (this was difficult to narrow down and is not in any particular order)

• Nazca Lines
• Kuelap, pre-Inca ruins in northern Peru
• Machu Picchu and the four day hike on the Inca trail
• hiking in Huaraz, Peru
• sunset at Valle de la Luna, northern Chile
• seeing Condors in the wild near Arequipa, Peru
• Galapagos Islands
• Angel Falls, Venezuela
• hiking to the top of Volcan Villarica, southern Chile
• Moreno Glacier, Argentina
• moonrise at the oasis in Colca Canyon
• sunsets in Ihla Grande, Brazil
• swimming with dolphins in Mexico and Praia de Pipa
• Foz de Iguacu, waterfalls on the border of Brazil and Argentina
• indigenous parade in Cajamarca
• Salar de Uyuni, the salt flats in Bolivia
• 5 day boat ride on the Amazon on a cargo boat
• 10 days of Carnaval in Porto Seguro,Brazil

*6 new experiences (sand boarding, hiking with an ice pick and crampons, kayaking (for Kate), Carnaval, swimming with crocodiles and piranhas in Bolivia, riding in a dune buggy)

*16 amazing hiking and camping trips

*$1,200 spent on bottled water $14,000 - my spending money for the year

*6 times we stayed more than ten days in one place

*2 trips to emergency clinics

*0 times we felt we were unsafe or in danger

COUNTLESS....... friends made, sunsets seen, laughs enjoyed, great meals eaten, experiences that we will never forget, memories that no one can ever take away!!

It was an awesome, amazing, perfect year.

And the answer to the question that I have been asked countless times,

"So, how was your trip?"

"It was incredible, perfect and the best thing that I have ever done!"

To all who read this web page and kept in touch with me while I was away from home for a year....THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!