An Adventure for Aodhan

“It's not far to never-never land, no reason to pretend

And if the wind is right you can find the joy of innocence again

Oh, the canvas can do miracles, just you wait and see.

Believe me.

Well it's not far back to sanity, at least it's not for me

And if the wind is right you can sail away and find serenity

Oh, the canvas can do miracles, just you wait and see.

Believe me.”
                                                          "Christopher Cross"

Off again on another adventure. I am determined to visit one country for every year of my life.

1. Canada
2. USA
3. England
4. Ireland
5. Wales
6. Scotland
7. Germany
8. East Germany - this was a different country when I visited though Checkpoint Charlie.
9. France
10. Netherlands
11. Denmark
12. Austria
13. Italy
14. Vatican City
15. Monaco
16. Spain
17. Switzerland
18. Greece
19. Turkey
20. British Virgin Islands
21. US Virgin Islands
22. Cayman Islands
23. Bahamas
24. Mexico
25. Belize
26. Guatemala
27. Costa Rica
28. Honduras
29. Ecuador
30. Chile
31. Peru
32. Argentina
33. Brazil
34. Bolivia
35. El Salvador
36. Columbia

Maybe I have missed some?

On the way back, I will stop in Panama. I hope to get to Paraguay and or Uruguay on this trip. But, that still only brings me up to 39. I will need to travel some more.

Traveling this time is a little more of an adventure, because I am only taking Aodhan. We are renovating the main floor of our house and we needed to get him out of there, because that kind of change will drive him ballistic. We thought of just staying with friends and family, but that would not be great for anyone involved. We looked at the cost of renting somewhere for the time, or traveling in Canada and the USA. But, with our air miles and some friends in South America, we were able to do this cheaper and still have friends and family that will talk to us! We also hope that I will be able to find and repair some of the connections I had with Aodhan before he hit puberty.

For those of you who may not know, Aodhan’s autism and OCD had become quite unmanageable this past year. In Ciaran’s sage words, “Puberty hasn’t improved Aodhan”. We finally had to choose to put him on an anxiety medication so that we all could cope. 

We tried telling Aodhan about the trip, but his anxiety level went way up, so we told him it was only a maybe, and it would be a long time after Nuit Blanche, which was October 5th. Aodhan had a great time at Nuit Blanche and he didn’t come home until 3:30 in the afternoon on the 6th. We went out to supper with Gram and Glen at Gusto. Aodhan wanted to go back out the next night to do Nuit Blanche again, so we had to tell him Dad was going to the airport the next day, and told him we were all going to Zets, the 24 hour Greek restaurant by the airport for breakfast. He finally slept. 

Now we are on a plane, and Aodhan thinks it’s pretty funny and great how we surprised him at the airport that he was going on the plane, and dad’s plane was leaving later for Indianapolis. We fly from Toronto to El Salvador and then on to Bogota before landing in La Paz Bolivia, in the highest capital city in the world. Our first few nights are booked at the Swiss Hotel, Oberland in Mallesa before we get a bus or a plane to Arequipa. Aodhan definitely wants to visit Mollenedo - the Pacific coast beach near Arequipa.

We landed in El Salvador, where we had very little time. I took a few pictures and really didn’t buy anything because the airlines have been feeding us very well. When we stopped in Bogota, I decided I really should give Aodhan his med. His first response was a big smile and “I don’t want to, and you can’t make me because Dad’s not here”. He took it after I scared him that I would leave him in Bogota. What was true, is that I would have stayed in Bogota, and travelled overland from there to Arequipa, seeing Lima and the Nasca Lines and many other things on the way, so I really had nothing to lose, and I wasn’t lying to him. He commented later that maybe it just would have been easier to take it in the first place. 

 Flying over El Salvador

  Landing in El SalvadorM Landing in El Salvadorountains over Columbia

Aodhan is very happy about going to South America 

Mountains over Columbia