CHRISTMAS

Christmas greetings to all our relatives and friends.  We hope this letter finds you blessed and looking forward to all the great events in store for us during 2023.  Most of you probably know we are in Southern Ecuador, and we are here through the holidays, and beyond. Merry Christmas from the Equator!  We won’t see any snow here. (It is in the 70s here all year long) The nearest snow is on Mt Chimborazo, a days drive to our north.  It has the distinction, that when measured from the center of the earth, and due to the bulge at the equator, is the highest mountain on earth.  Even higher than Mt Everest! 

But we can send our wishes for good weather your way.  That said, we are glad to be away from the cold and rainy PNW for a change.  As Rosie’s mom passed away on 3/1/22, she has no good reason to not… travel with Bill, and it seems he has taken a liking to the country of Ecuador.  He is here for his 5th time, Rosie her 2nd.  And yes, they do celebrate Christmas here as well.  

Here is Bill and Santa.  Ho Ho Ho!  It almost looks like they have the same hair color………….but he is missing those white teeth!

As the country is predominently Catholic, there is certainly a healthy holiday sentiment here. But it is much less commercialized here.  Families do get together, but there is much less of a gift exchange thing.  There is even a nativity scene out on the square in front of the town’s Catholic Church. 

They even eat turkey here for the holidays!  Not sure if they have cranberry sauce though.  We did learn of a small group of Christian expats here who meet every Sunday, so it was fun to  be with them and have dinner afterward.  Tis great to be with like-minded people for such occasions.  After all, we just don’t have the opportunity for a family gathering back in Oregon this year………guess they will have to survive (the ice storms) without us.  

It is nice that modern technology affords us great communication abilities, so we’ve been texting friends and family, as well as sending pictures.  Bill has been sending out blogs also.  

Come the first week of January we’re headed north to the city of Loja and then east over the Andes for a week of birding in the Oriente, or, Amazon Lowlands.  It is likely to be warmer there.  (85 degrees on average, but this is during the dry season there) Someone we know, who grew up there, says it is not the rainy season there now, so we should be OK.  However, we are entering the rainy season here in Vilcabamba.  Some think it is a little later than usual this year, others not.  Bill is curious to learn if the rainy season also incentivizes the birds to nest.   

A rehash of the year which is ebbing away.  January found us at home, enduring the usual dreary weather.  Bill was supposed to be in Ecuador, but as those plans fell through, he remembered a friend who was possibly going to be in Mexico, so contacted him.  This was just in time as he was gathering a small group to bird the state of Oaxaca, where he grew up.  So Bill flew down there last of January for 18 days, 14 of which were hard core birding and traveling. 

The last few days of February were trying as we watched Rosie’s mom go downhill, and passed away March 1st.  She was a real warrior, never complaining about many things most of us would have.  So preparations began for a memorial service and settling the estate.  In the meantime, we started seeds in our greenhouse to be ready to plant the garden.  

But planting the garden was a challenge because the cold wet spring hung on til into June.  Due to a cold snap in April, our grapes had to start over, so in the end did not produce very much.  But the green beans and tomatoes did OK.  The broccoli and kale got eaten up by aphids.  The summer squash and cucumbers did well.

It turned out that Rosie’s sister’s family wanted to obtain the house and property where they all grew up, so after coming to terms, that became settled.  So we’ll be able to keep relatives as our neighbors for another generation.  

In late August we were walking on a trail near the Willamette River, the main waterway which dissects the Willamette Valley, when Rosie said her heart was palpitating.  Bill checked her out and agreed her heart was racing.  As we were already walking, we decided to continue walking the last mile to the car.  Her heart was still racing.  We drove the half hour home.  It was still racing, too fast for the oximeter to register, so we headed to the ER, where they took her right in and stuck an IV in her arm.  In a few minutes they infused some adenocine in her, which brought it down close to normal.  Since then she had to wear a heart monitor for 2 weeks, see a cardiologist twice and now has an order for a prn in case it happens again.  We are glad to report it has not happened again.  This did delay us finalizing our vacation plans to Ecuador, but as you can see, we did make it here.

In September we took a couple of jaunts in our truck/camper, one to the south coast of Oregon, and the other to the north coast of the same. In October Mark LaBell came to reside with us, and as we needed someone to watch our cats while we were gone, this was a real Godsend so we don’t need to worry about how they are doing. 

Here they are.  From left to right: Buster, Tux, Handsome, and Chubby.  But Tux disappeared the day after we left, so we assume he is gone for good. 

We thought we’d save $400 by taking a night flight to Ecuador, which landed us in Charlotte, NC for an 8 hour layover. (Not likely we’ll do that again)  Then it was on to Miami, and then to Quito, Ecuador for the night.  We each slept 8 solid hours. The next day we took a domestic flight to southern Ecuador to Catamayo in the Province of Loja, an hour’s drive from Vilcabamba where we have been since Nov 4.  Early on Bill arranged to head to the dentist as his 4 upper front teeth were really wearing thin.  The dentist thought he could place veneer on them, but after working on them decided to crown them, just what Bill was hoping.  Along with those, veneer was placed on the upper canines,  so now many have to wear sunglasses when he smiles.  As we were needing new glasses, we went to a local optometrist where they made such happen.  While the dentist spoke fairly good English, the Optometrist did not, so it was an interesting challenge communicating with her using our google translate apps. 

We are settled in after almost 2 months and enjoying life here.  It is a unique place, nothing quite like it anywhere else in this country.  After our jaunt over the Andes we’ll be here til Ferbruary 3 when we fly back to Quito for the night where we’ll meet 2 birder friends of Bill’s, and then head down the west slope to Mindo for a week of hard core birding with them.  After a week they leave back to Quito, while we stay in Mindo til Feb 27, and then we’ll fly back the next day. 

Once again, we hope this note finds you well and enjoying life as we look forward to the soon coming of Jesus Christ.