We were quite lucky to even get park  reservations over new years and once we arrived at the park were hoping that we’d be able to arrange for a New Years Eve night safari at our Satara camp.
The ride out to the remote picnic spot, where some champagne was waiting for us, was a quick one, but eventful nonetheless. Pulling out of camp we saw giraffe galloping, startled at the light, our first water buffalo, and a group of elephants move to protect a baby. This was interesting to us because during the day the elephants didn’t really feel the need to encircle a baby but I guess it was different at night with a bunch of lights …

Sorry Chicago, you guys should try for the WINTER Olympics…..leave the summer Olympics to the beaches and palm trees of Rio…one of the most stunning cities we have ever laid eyes on.
The biggest problem with Rio was that it is a City…and a city is a place where people live in order to go to work and go about their daily lives. We don’t work and our lives are far from normal…hence cities aren’t usually so enticing to us. In Panama City we saw the canal, in Bogota we hung out with Couchsurfers, and in Lima we took some time from our hectic travel schedule to get visas for Bolivia and Brazil. Here in Rio though, we found …

Less than 60 days before we move out and pack up. We got the annual new years candy from my grandma today (yay!), the card says “May you have a sweet 2009 no matter where you are.” Who knows what 2009 has in store for us, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
New year= new countries= new adventures.
What does your 2009 equation look like?

We’re back in the cold northeast. Just in time for a little snow later this week. Yay! (can you sense the sarcasm!)
Jamaica was a very necessary vacation. Ever have those days when it feels like you’re always running around and never get anything done? Well that’s been the last two months for me. Life has been chaotic with work, traveling and planning, so going to Jamaica was a light at the end of the tunnel!
Although getting there was less than stellar (air jamaica felt that by posting a 3:25 departure time that meant that they could show up at 3:15 to board the plane and the not take off until 4:30), there was free champagne …