Haha! The first thing I noticed when I got into Chicago was
how green it is here. It smelled so good too, even right outside the airport!
There is more space and there are so many TREES! I want to write a little bit
about my actual trip on the planes.
On Saturday I boarded a plane to Lima from Cusco. It was the
most difficult good-bye I have ever said even though I knew that I would be
coming back. 7 weeks is not a short amount of time and it’s only going to feel
longer for Marco since he is not changing his routine and going to a completely
different country for that amount of time, nor is he getting to lead trips. I
think about him constantly and thank goodness I have a cell phone now that
takes pictures so I can quickly snap a photo and send it to him. Anyway, I was
picked up by Marco’s cousin and we headed to her place for the day. I had a
great time chatting with her and we ended up talking all morning until I had to
leave to have lunch with Angela. It was really nice catching up with her. She
seems to be really happy in Lima and she is settling in. She had just bought
new furniture for her new place. Nothing like moving out of the parents house
finally!
On Saturday I had an 11am flight with Spirit airlines. We
left more or less on time and I read the entire Outward Bound Wilderness First
Aid Handbook during my 5 and a half hour flight. I needed to brush up on my
medical protocols for camp. I also had the luxury of having no one in the
middle seat so I could spread out.
Florida was a trip and a half watching from the plane.
Wetlands are awesome! We also flew through a bit of a thunderstorm. (The storms
were even crazier from Florida to Chicago!) I got in and met Christy and Andy
during our wait to go through US customs. They are studying PT (I think she
graduated this year) and met last year and decided to go to Peru for an
adventure. How fun!
After re-checking my bag for my flight to Chicago I went up
the stairs to find a Sbarro pizzeria! YES!! REAL PIZZA! Haha! It was so good
and the slice was so enormous! The quantity of pop was insane as well. Gotta
love giant portions in the US. I must admit that in Peru you get pretty large
quantities of food too though. Anyway, I sabored the cheese and mushroom pizza
and root beer.
I heard on the intercom that my flight had been delayed due
to bad weather so I had two hours to pass in the airport. I wanted to call my
mother so I politely asked a man in front of me sitting if I could use his cell
phone. He was super friendly and said sure. We ended up chatting for a bit and
he told me he was from Detroit and worked in the housing industry and just came
to Florida to hang with a friend from high school and get a little sun. I
didn’t blame him. We talked about Peru and the States and he told me that
Detroit is the murder capitol of the United States. That’s crazy but
unfortunately, I am not surprised. After the car industry tanked that city went
down as well. It’s funny how people always ask me if Peru is safe and if I feel
safe there because people always think of South American countries as being
unsafe when they should just look in their backyard to cities in the States
that are just as bad or worse! The States is not immune to anything and crime
is one of those things.
I boarded the plane and who did I end up sitting next to but
Christy and Andy from the customs line! We chatted for a while and we got
yelled at by a girl in front of us for being too loud. Oops!
By the time we finally got in at midnight I was ready for my
bed. I waited in a line for a taxi for 15 minutes and ended up home at 1:45am.
I chatted with my mom for a bit and passed out. It felt so good to not be
sitting in a plane. Thank goodness we Peru is in the same time zone and I
didn’t have to deal with jetlag too!
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