Christmas 2008
Trip Start
Jan 06, 2008
1
28
Trip End
Mar 31, 2008
Chicago,
Illinois,
United States
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Merry Christmas to you All!!!
What a year!! We feel fortunate to have survived, financially somewhat battered, but still in good health.
Knowing nothing of what was to follow, as planned we spent the first 3 months of this year in South America. We established a travel blog (great fun in itself) and many of you followed along as we progressed through the 'Southern Cone' of the Americas
Iguazu Falls
. Mitzi joined us in Santiago, our starting off point, and we traveled with her to Peru (Machu Picchu, Cuzco), Argentina (Buenos Aires), and a day trip to Uruguay. We rented apartments in Santiago, B.A., and Montevideo and took side trips to places as varied as the Atacama desert, the Chilean lake district , Iguazu Falls,Patagonia with its penguins and glaciers, and a Uruguayan estancia. We loved it all and were agreeably surprised that we
did not miss our home surroundings. Although Chile, Peru, and Argentina have the big tourist destinations and are all wonderful to see, the most relaxing and comfortable place (especially from a climate point of view) was Uruguay. Its beaches and countryside are almost absent of visitors by March when we were there. Its excellent wines were also a pleasant surprise.
Christy and Eric continued in Nicaragua, but now in Managua (the capital). Eric's responsibilities to Bloomberg made the move necessary. Christy worked for a friend of ours in
Chicago. The Internet and Skype have literally eliminated geographic considerations when it comes to many office tasks
Volcan Villarica
. She continued to visit 'her families' in Granada whenever possible. Their big news is that they are moving to Panama in January. Eric will become the Bloomberg guy in Panama, a much bigger and more important country from an economic viewpoint than Nicaragua.In July we went to England, no wedding this time, visited with my mother who remains unchanged and is now 90, and then we were off to Mitzi's house in France (much better weather than last year) where we were joined for a weekend by my brother Paul and my sister Angela, and their spouses. We were also visited by Silvia and Jose, whom we visited last year, who drove up from Madrid with a Jamon Iberico and its Jamonera (a whole leg of ham with its carving stand), a specialty of Spain.
On returning to England we drove up to Dundee, Scotland (with the ham), to visit with Mitzi's daughter Lindsey and her fiancé Alex, and Lindsey's beautiful daughters Katy and Chloe. Duncan, Mitzi's son also joined us for a few days.
After 6 weeks away, we returned to Chicago where the unraveling of the economy was already beginning to show. Needless to say we made no effort to sell our townhouse in Naperville, in fact we will not try until at least 2010
Uruguayan rodeo
. .In August Greg took an opportunity to join a startup company offering services to the capital markets. It is hardly a nourishing environment for this endeavor right now so we will see how they do. He and his new wife Karen are building a country house in the depths of the Illinois countryside which should be finished in the new year
Vedran continued with the company he joined last year. He visited Croatia again and his sister Vanja visited Chicago in October.
I continued to cycle quite seriously, doing more miles this year than last, including 2 five day trips in Wisconsin with friends in September.
Joan had to have foot surgery again to remove a cyst which had regrown.
November was busy. We spent 10 days in Nicaragua staying with Christy and Eric. Following that Mitzi came for her annual Chicago Thanksgiving visit. She and Joan flew off to Palm Springs to stay with our friend Kathy and also to visit Las Vegas. This was the first time Mitzi had been to California and Nevada. They returned to Chicago in time to celebrate Thanksgiving in our apartment with Greg, Karen, Vedran, and our friend Ruth. Unfortunately Christy and Eric did not make it, but they will be here for Christmas
Jose, jamon, and jamonera
.The much delayed remodeling of the master bathroom was completed while Mitzi was here. All did not go smoothly but we are very happy with the end result.
July 2008 marked the 40th anniversary of our arrival in North America (15 years in Canada, 25 in the USA). It has been a great ride and we hope the ride continues for many more years yet.
We managed to spend over 5 months of 2008 traveling. With the economy in freefall it is unlikely we will do the same in 2009, unfortunately, but this too will pass.
May you all enjoy a happy and warm Christmas and a prosperous and healthy 2009.
Joan and John
P.S. Joan had a great time taking photos, including all of the above.
