

But for us, Cusuco this year was marked more than anything else by what we found in the early morning on January 1: someone had broken into the car, and stolen various items, including Kashmir's passport, which he - foolishly, it must be said - had left in his otherwise empty camera bag. (I'm writing this blog entry in the Mexican consulate in San Pedro Sula, where we are waiting for his replacement passport to be processed.)
In Cusuco, we stayed at the eco-hostel in Buenos Aires. I had stayed there before and had fallen in love with the desolate, magnificent view of the valley below. However, the hostel's peripheral location also meant an additional safety risk, and indeed several items we had left out - hand soap, detergent - were stolen. That, and the incessant rain the last four days or so, made our visit a little less pleasant than it could have been. I remember swimming in a mountain stream there and seeing groups of Swallow-tailed and Mississippi Kites overhead, once with a King Vulture mixed in, but that was two years ago, in February. This time, it was often quite cold, misty and rainy, and looking for mixed species flocks was sometimes difficult. Two days were lost because we were unable to find a flock. Our last flock was hard to follow in the pouring rain on a steep slope.
Today in San Pedro Sula we bought a 'new' (used) window for the car, had it installed, and Kashmir made progress with his passport. Hopefully he can pick that up tomorrow and we can continue to our next field site, La Botija near San Marcos de Colón. That's on the other side of the country, so we have a long drive ahead of us, to what I expect will be much nicer weather, and a bit more comfort. In previous years, goldencheeks were not common at this site either, but we'll see.

Here are some snapshots from Cusuco.




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