An unexpected visit to New York City
Trip Start
Jan 13, 2007
1
10
Trip End
Feb 06, 2007
Kitchener, Canada
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Following our days in Mendoza we spent a short 6 hour van ride through the Andes, watching The Sentinal in Spanish, until we arrived in Santiago, Chile. My moments of sentiment were drawn out as we walked to the same metro station to arrive at the first hostel we had stayed at when Kevan arrived in Chile. We had a free breakfest the next morning in the same chairs as three weeks earlier. Our final day in Santiago also consisted of us eating at the first restaurant we had lunch at (if this is all starting to sound uber cheesy, well, it was.) We broke the memories by swimming in the Piscina Atilan located in the San Cristobal Parque atop Santiago.
Our flight to Miami was uneventful (yet lacking in sleep) so by the time we landed in the U.S we were ready for our final flight to Toronto. The customs line in Miami was short. We were let through after only two or three questions. Things were once again going too well. And we knew it. We had to recheck our luggage in Miama (it's a 'Homeland Security' obsession of the United States.) Our bags went through xray, our tickets were in hand, we were on our way to the Toronto departure gate. Casually we rechecked the gate location on the 'departures' screen. Toronto Flight 1552 CANCELLED. Cancelled?? We checked back where we had left our bags...we couldn't see them admist the bulging suitcases. After several redirections to various agents we were finally given new plane tickets: Miami to New York, New York to Toronto. Assured our bags would accompany us, we left to find a pay phone (again, my apologies for the 6 a.m phone call T.)
Kevan was elated to be in New York and we toyed with the idea of wearing 'I love New York' T-Shirts off the plane. But my thoughts were dancing elsewhere while we waited in NYC. In just a few hours, I'd be in Toronto. There were no more cancellations, no more redirected flights. This was it. No new cities to discover, no new languages to learn, no more repacking by backpack. I was going home. As it turned out, I was going home but our bags were not. They didn't come off carousel 7 in the Toronto airport but American Airlines, I suppose they deserve due credit, delivered them to my doorstep the following morning. I just wanted to pick up that bag and go back to the airport with the drop-off vehicle.
I've never been good at returning to what is familiar. My walk through my regular Zehrs today proved quite disappointing. The foreign fruits, while exotic, held that "I've been shipped accross too many countries and am consequently brown" look, the oranges appeared processed and the peaches too small. The deli meat was expensive and the packaged meat had no new additions like brain or intestines. I didn't have to guess at what the ingredients on the packages read, everything was in English. In fact the only change in Zehrs was that they switched where the eggs and orange juice were displayed. (They're still side by side but now the eggs are to the RIGHT of the orange juice. Don't let this fool you if you shop at the Laurentian Power Centre.) I miss saying "Hola" instead of hello on the sidewalk and on the hiking trails; I haven't seen any dulce de leche filled Oreo's since being home and the parks are, while buried under snow, still much less frequent then in Argentina. Mostly I miss something new to learn, see, experience with every step. My route to Zehrs was too common this morning. I prefer walking from my hostel with the ripped out map of the city center in hand, trying to find the 'supermarket' which is usually a street or two off from it's shown location.
Upon returning home I find the hardest part is not in going back to work but explaining why I'd rather be living off my last paycheck from work. Spending $40 per day to wake up to the hot sun on my face and drink fresh orange juice before stepping out to walk uneven sidewalks and come accross a man walking his horse down the road, turn the corner to discover a couple dancing the tango or make my payment to climb a volcano the next day, these are the reasons I long to continue carrying my pack, to converse with the rest of the world, and have an intersting story to tell when the next person asks me.... " so, what have you done lately?"
A lifetime of investments can get you very far, depending on what you're investing in.
