Re-Entry

My brother picked me up at the Miami International Airport well after midnight and we drove back to his house in Fort Lauderdale.  It took me three days to get to Florida!  Two volunteers and I left San Cristobal on Tuesday afternoon and after our tearful goodbye at the station, we then ran into several people that we had met over the last weeks.  They were all taking either the flight to Guayaquil, Ecuador or flying to one of the other islands.  We had a wonderful second round of good-byes!  After taking the "milk run" flight back to Quito, I stayed one night with my host family and boarded the plane for Miami the next day, stopping again in Guayaquil, then San Jose, Costa Rica and finally arriving in Miami.

When I first arrived, I experienced a little bit of culture shock, but surprisingly, not as much of a shock as I expected.  Sure, I was happy to be back to the land where the electricity stays on all the time (even at night), the water runs regularly and you can even drink directly out of the tap, you can throw your toilet paper in the toilet and things run on time.  At the same time, I instantly missed the chaos and unpredictability of Central and South America.  Also surprisingly, I didn't have any particular "meal" or   drink or anything that I missed desperately while down South so I didn't need to rush off to some place like Olive Garden or Dairy Queen (ha!).  My brother was very patient as he listened to all of my stories and little comparisons...

My relatively minor culture shock might have been due to the fact that Miami and Fort Lauderdale are perfect places for "re-entry" back into the States, First World, or whatever you want to call it.   You can order in either Spanish or English at most restaurants and meet people from all over the world walking on Lincoln Street or the A1A in Fort Lauderdale.

I spent some time with Jen Samway, her family, and Flor in Miami.  We went paddle-boarding and kayaking right outside Jen's door, we biked around South Beach on beach cruisers and watched the Miami City Ballet's junior troupe (Jen's daughter included).  Jen and Flor and I met in Costa Rica at the Coastal Challenge and it was fun reminiscing about the race.  The Coastal Challenge was my first stop on my Central and South American tour and Jen and Flor were the very first people I met on my travels!  They adopted me in the airport in San Jose and gave me all kinds of great advice throughout our "Challenge" week.

After my short visit in Florida, my brother and I flew to Colorado to visit Mom.  My friend Shelley met up with us in downtown Denver and we all drove up to the mountains.  Shelley visited for two days and the two of us hit the trails!  We climbed Peak 1 (~13,000 feet) on our first day (ouch!) and then rose early the next morning to run the 9 mile Peak-to-Peak trail (~10,000 feet) from Breckenridge to Frisco (also ouch!).  This was my first real exercise in 3 months and let me tell you, I was so sore the following couple of days...Yet another facet of "re-entry."  For some reason I also decided that it would be a good idea to run a 5km race.  There is nothing like a 5km race at 9,200 feet to let you know how out of shape you are!

I looked up some really old-time friends, Julie and Kristen, and had an amazing time reliving the really old memories from our days at Carriage House and Breckenridge Elementary, as well as getting caught up on their and other classmates' current lives.


I have to admit, it has been a little difficult to resist the urge to turn around and get on a plane back to South America or hop on one to Africa or Asia.  Traveling definitely has become an addiction of sorts and I have a bit of feeling of, "Okay, what's next?!"  However, I am simultaneously enjoying this time with my family in Florida, Colorado and Washington and really looking forward to getting back to summer in Alaska!

Cheers,
Kelly