It's Like America, But South! Day 18

We finally made it home!

After 18 hours stuck at the Quito airport, we flew to Panama City, had a short layover, flew to Dulles, and took an uber from there!

It was a very long 30 hours from the time we left our hotel in Quito until we arrived at our house.

We flew on Copa Airlines and we were not impressed. From checking in, to checking bags, to boarding, to the actual flight...less than great. Obviously we were just so happy to finally be on our way, but it seemed like a bit of a bush league operation.

Our layover in Panama was a mixed bag. On the upside, the lounge had Diet Coke, which I hadn't had in 17 days because none of the places we went have it. After a long and stressful day, that was a major win!

However, after leaving the lounge, we bought a bottle of water to take on the plane and walked to our gate. What did we discover at our gate? A huge long line, an x-ray machine, and an enormous garbage can filled with full water/soda/juice bottles. That's right...when we were all in the SECURE area of the airport, we had to be screened again and everyone had to throw out their drinks THAT WERE PURCHASED IN THE SECURE AREA OF THE AIRPORT so no one was permitted to bring a drink on the plane. What on earth?!? On a day filled with ineptitude and stupidity, that takes the cake.

I slept the entire flight - from before takeoff until we landed - and C, who rarely sleeps on planes, also slept part of the flight, so that speaks to how exhausted we were. When we landed at Dulles, we were the first people at Global Entry, which literally took 30 seconds, and the first people at baggage claim, and the elation of being home cannot be overstated!

We got home at 2:00 am this morning, and left at 10:00 am this morning to drive to Maryland. We dropped my car off at B1 and S1's house and picked up C's car from there (my car is very old with 246,000+ miles on it and we don't want to drive it long distances if we can help it!).

I'm now writing this in the car on our way to Canada, counting the minutes until we see Avalanche!

Since this trip has drawn to a close, I thought I'd do a brief wrap-up!

Not-So-Fun Fact:

My least favorite thing about Quito is the stray dog problem they have. These poor creatures are everywhere. I don't presume to know how the country is addressing this issue, but I certainly hope someone is doing something. It's absolutely heartbreaking. It was not lost on me how we changed our plans and cancelled two countries of our trip just so we could get home sooner to Avalanche, while everywhere I looked in Quito, there were homeless dogs. I was constantly gutted and on the verge of tears.

Fun Facts:

Population of the cities we visited:

San Jose: 340,000

Cartagena: 920,000

Medellin: 4,000,000

Bogota: 11,500,000

Quito: 2,000,000

Elevation of the cities we visited:

San Jose: 3,800 feet

Cartagena: 7 feet

Medellin: 5,000 feet

Bogota: 8,660 feet

Quito: 9,350 feet

Over 17 days, we took seven flights on four different airlines: Southwest (we give it an A; we are big fans), Avianca (we give it a D; their "premium economy" was a joke), Latam (we give it an A; very impressed with their customer service), and Copa (we give it a D and that is generous; nothing about our flights was particularly pleasant and the rating is inflated just because we were relieved to finally be going home).

This trip added three new countries to our travel list - Ecuador was country #31 for us!

We've now been to four continents and all four hemispheres!

My current passport now has 39 stamps in it! (Some are the "exit" stamps when we left a country and one is the cancelled exit stamp courtesy of United cancelling our flight home!)

I am so grateful for technology - Google Translate, Google Maps, and Uber really make getting around places where you don't speak the language relatively easy!

A random observation I had about trying to communicate with people in all five cities (hotel/restaurant/shop employees, Uber drivers, etc.): no one used gestures to try to explain things to us! I found that incredibly strange. Some would just continue to speak to us in Spanish even though it was clear we could not understand what they were saying; others would just stand and stare at us. Maybe it's because I always talk with my hands (and pretty much every teacher I've ever known also does this!), but the idea that people wouldn't pantomime to help explain what they were saying just makes no sense to me! Thankful once again for Google Translate!

Thanks for following on our adventure to South America!

the cancelled exit stamp from when
the United employees collected everyone's passports
in the empty box after our flight was cancelled

why does Copa Airlines number the rows of its
plane like this...apparently rows 11 through 16 are imaginary

view of Panama City from the plane

Happy Tails to you!

It's Like America, But South! Day 4

Another beautiful day in Costa Rica! We did some more exploring, visited a beautiful park, took a hike through a nature preserve down to a river, had an amazing lunch, and today's highlight was visiting a butterfly garden!

Thank you for the very sweet messages and texts in response to my post the other day. I went back and forth about whether to share such personal details because I am not a person who likes to admit when they're struggling. The outpouring of kindness has been incredible. I've learned about the struggles of some of my cherished people who opened up about themselves after reading my post, and for that reason alone, I'm glad I decided to be vulnerable. I didn't write all of that in a search for pity, but rather to let people know that just because someone seems fine and posts cute pics of their dog, that doesn't mean they aren't having a hard time. I tried week after week to "be" happy and failed consistently; adopting Avalanche definitely played a role in me finding little moments of joy each day, but even he couldn't cure me. I had to be patient and tell myself the storm would pass and celebrate little wins and now, at long last, I'm certain I'm on the other side. I came across a teaching blog a while back and the author shared a poem that one of her students wrote: "Brave birds still fly through fog." To anyone who finds themselves in the fog right now, keep going.

One of the best messages I received came from a friend who said they had noticed me smiling more over the past couple of weeks and that I just seemed like my old self again. Even my mom mentioned that I was smiling more lately, and she is one of the few people who has truly seen me at my worst, so that is music to my ears - not only am I feeling happy again, but others are seeing it in me as well.

C and I are only four days into this adventure, but it has been transformative already. That's what travel does for me. It is my version of self-care. Some people like to get massages or watch Hallmark movies or meditate - all great activities! - but for me, travel is what has the most positive impact on my well-being. The quick weekend trips, the long road trips, the summer adventures...whether to somewhere new or somewhere we've been before, I just want to go. Even when it's uncomfortable and we don't speak the language and it's hard to find our way around and we don't understand the customs. Even when I almost get run over because the uber driver starts pulling away before I'm in the car (true story - this happened this morning!). Even then, I just want to go.

"If we were meant to stay in one place,

we would have roots instead of feet."

~ Rachel Wolchin ~

Happy Tails to you!

It's Like America, But South! Day 3

Today was lovely! We explored the city, checking out stores and shops, and went to a large market filled with all sorts of interesting things! It's been fun to discover places to eat throughout our meanderings and just take in the sights and sounds of a vibrant, busy place!

Without a doubt, the highlight of the day was taking a tour at the National Theater! It was fascinating to learn its history and as you can see from the photos, it is a gorgeous building! The tour guide was an actor, who was joined by another actor partway through the tour, and they were hilarious!

I always look for the Harry Potter books
in every country we visit!

Happy Tails to you!