One of the wonderful things about traveling is the people who share your experiences. Some of these are really essential to those experiences – like the people who guide our tours and the others who get us to the places we visit. This year we were very lucky to travel with some great folks! Here are some snapshots of these special people, and an indication of where they’re from.

Jorge Montejo Diaz (Mexican) and Amy McAndrews (Canadian, but living in Mexico) did a wonderful job of showing us the birds of Oaxaca. Their experiences doing bird surveys for wind farm environmental impact reports added new insights about where birds are still found and how our demand for more energy impacts them.

On birding trips, the drivers must often sit with the car while we hike and bird on small trails. It’s a challenging assignment for people who can’t be patient with waiting. Arturo (Mexican) has driven for Jorge and Amy before, and has gotten interested enough that he’s now got his own bird book and binoculars. We look forward to your new birds when we see you next, Arturo!

After birding in the Oaxaca area, we wanted to get to know the city a bit too. We were so lucky to have Aline Hunziker (American, but resident of Mexico for decades) agree to show us around her city! The daughter of our good friends Ann and Ruedi, Aline was an incomparable guide to a city with many attractions.

David Ascanio (Venezuelan) is a long-time guide with Victor Emanual Nature Tours. We hadn’t seen him since our first meeting at Panama’s Canopy Tower an amazing twenty years ago! But his sense of humor is unchanged … as is his delight in unique and special birds. Getting a Venezuelan’s take on Cuba was especially intriguing.

U.S. citizens are required to have an educational or cultural reason to visit Cuba, and each tour has a guide from the Cuban Department of Tourism. We were very lucky to have Gustavo Perez Puig (Cuban). His long experience with guiding meant that our tour went smoothly and that we learned a lot about the history, economy and culture of this country. His own background meant we heard from a perspective that was very different from the one we’d heard in the States.

Hector (Cuban) had a real challenge – driving a city-sized bus on tiny dirt tracks in rural Cuba! He had not done this before but took it on like a champ. We would certainly never challenge him in any sort of auto race, and we would definitely not be as good-humored about dealing with the obstacles this birding tour presents to a bus driver.

Part of the educational exchange in Cuba was learning from Cuban ornithologists who were superbly knowledgeable about their local parks, reserves and habitats. They added lots of interest – and found us some great birds.

What a pleasure to travel again with our great friend Terry Stevenson! He’s British but has lived in Kenya for decades and is one of the top birders for much of Africa. We always enjoy his expertise and his stories, and this year was no exception. We’re looking forward to our next trip, Terry!

Our “local” guide in Angola was Errol deBeer (South African). Errol has traveled in Angola for many years and it was interesting to hear his views on how things have changed, particularly since COVID. He did an impressive job of finding tough birds in a landscape that was often different from when he last visited.

Bruno Arroteia (Angolan) drove one of the vehicles for the first half of the Angola trip (Errol drove the other, along with bird guiding). He was definitely an expert driver. But in addition, he had a love of the Angolan outdoors from growing up camping there, and a keen eye to his country’s challenges and future. We learned a lot from him! Kikas (Angolan) took care of the driving for the second half of the tour. Given the way the roads are in Angola, that was no small task!

After Angola, we spent a few days in Portugal. Through Birds & Nature Tours Portugal, we arranged a day of birding in the Alentejo steppes, about 1 ½ hours outside Lisbon. Bernardo Barreto (Portuguese) was our guide but Amalia (Portuguese) was guiding a similar trip in a few days so she came along too, and we got a two-fer. They were so determined to find us a Little Bustard that our ‘day trip’ ended up being from about 6 AM to 9 PM! We saw lots of other good birds, but sadly didn’t get that one.

Our two California pelagic trips were with Alvaro’s Adventures. Alvaro Jaramillo (Chilean but now in California) organizes fascinating trips that are also lots of fun. Even with challenging weather conditions, he showed us beautiful seabirds and whales.

Fausto Lopez (Czech-Cuban-Bolivian) picked us up when we arrived in La Paz. Not fazed by the unexpected, he turned hotel difficulties into an opportunity for us to see even more of his city than our ‘normal’ half-day tour would have allowed. It was fascinating to visit La Paz and the ancient city of Tiwanaku with him.

Our last foreign trip of the year was guided by Emiliano Garcia Loyola (Argentinian), also known as Indio. We’ve traveled with him before through Field Guides and Sereima Tours. It was a treat to see Bolivia with him! He worked so hard to find birds that just weren’t following their normal routines. When we found the rare ones, he was just as excited as we were! Talking movies, politics, travel and all other topics in the evenings was an added bonus.

Hugo (Bolivian) navigated the “Death Road” and expertly found his way around big trucks on many other narrow, winding mountain roads too. He turned out to have a much wider range of experience than solely driving so we gained a lot of insights – and entertainment – from traveling with him.