Lesson Learned

My last day. My last day in a place that has started to feel like a home to me. I used my final day to say goodbye to the people I've grown to care about so deeply.

I went to the Artisan Market for a few hours and hung out with Kenny. It was a sad goodbye, we have become such good friends. I will miss him a lot. We spent so much time together. Luckily, we are going to keep in touch and we hope to visit each other some day. Kenny left me with a few gifts to remember him by, which I plan on keeping forever.

I said goodbye to everyone at Maximo Nivel. I love everyone who works there and hope to visit them again soon. I plan on emailing the man who runs the organization because he wasn't around to talk to. I want to get more information about Maximo Nivel, why it got started and such, and hear it from his point of view so I can report back.

I finished the evening by having dinner at Ivannia's with the roommates and then the nine of us went to the Chicago bar for one last outing together. It was a sad goodbye, I've lived with these people and traveled with them for two weeks. We are all going to keep in touch.

A woman from Transleo, the travel company, picked me up to bring me to the airport. Ingrid was the same person who picked me up from the airport the first time. Ending where I started. She was very chatty and I noticed I could pick up on a lot more spanish than I could when I first arrived.

I arrived at the airport and after a couple fails when entering the airport through the wrong door, I made it. I paid the departure tax of $29 and I made it through check-in and security. I made the stupid mistake of buying a big bottle of water before I got on the plane because I was so thirsty. Thirty seconds after I bought it (a bottle costing $8 because everything is so expensive), I found out you can't have any liquids on the plane when entering the country, even if you bought it in the airport. Really? Crap. Lesson learned.

I'm now in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. After more than an hour and a half through customs and security, I've finally made it on the plane. It was a bit tight to get here, but I made it.

Some things I'm looking forward to:

Seeing my family

Seeing my friends

Seeing my animals

Packing for Montana

Going back to work

Driving my car

Sleeping in my own bed, or more likely, Adam's bed...)

And last, but definitely not least, A HOT SHOWER