Okay, this was just TOO GOOD to not record for posterity’s sake.

I’m currently looking up all the flights for travel to and around Chile because everyone needs a hobby, right? Just kidding.

The real reason is a happy surprise! While I was living in uncomfortable heat and humidity in Bolivia, I got a chilling email. As I checked email at the internet cafe in Guarayos on a half day off from wildlife care, I was caught off guard by an email from a guy named Matt. His name sounded familiar, but I hadn’t made any contact and was curious about the subject line “Seabird technician for 2019/20 Antarctic field season.”

“NOAA is starting to prepare for another Antarctic field season and I was wondering if you are interested and available for another year?”

Ummmm YES!!! Really that was all I was hoping for in life at that time. My ideas for winter work in Alaska were few and far between.

Over the weeks pieces slowly fell into place, and I finally learned in August that I really was being blessed with a third season of penguin and seal adventures at Cape Shirreff. What a relief.

More recently while spending far too much time trying to find the best prices for flights and determining whether taking a bus will be cheaper for some travel legs in Chile, I’ve recognized that I’ve grown rusty in booking Chilean travel. As I was googling Chilean bus schedule websites from the couch, I mumbled some comment about “all these websites that I didn’t think I needed to remember…”

“That’s why we bookmark them,” commented Scott, my home base couch provider.

Okay, yes, typically that would make some sense. However, keep in mind that I hadn’t actually been expecting a return to South America later this year.

I responded, “Oh, it’s really not that much of a problem. All I have to do is google New Zeala-.”

After a pause so I could register what my brain had just done, a huge smile spread across my face. “Ahhhhh YEEES!!!!!” 

I SWEAR, that slip-up was not deliberate. It’s just proof that even when New Zealand is far from my mind, evidently my soul keeps me in check and bumps NZ back to the front where it belongs.