Among the whirlwind of activities since I got back, this is the first time I've had a chance to take a deep breath, sit in front of my computer, and compose an email. But I did get here safely, as did all of my belongings. It began on Friday, when my flight was supposed to leave at 7:15PM. It was delayed five times. I got to the airport at 4:30PM to find that my flight had been delayed one hour to 8:15PM. Then it took three hours to get through check-in - and I'm not even talking about going through security - I'm talking about getting my ticket and checking my bags. It was ridiculous. There was one person checking people in for international flights and between three and five checking people in for domestic flights - and the passengers for domestic flights could do self-check-in! American Airlines was not winning any points, especially when as I was leaving the line (finally), ticket in hand, seeing the AA manager walk out with a colleague, talking and laughing without so much a glance at the 3-hr line behind him that I had just waited in, going home early on a Friday leaving a sole staff member that was already working overtime and had to be at work the next morning at 4:30AM. I was furious.
By that time, I knew that my flight was going to be delayed until 8:35PM. Then when I got to the gate, it had been delayed again to 8:55PM. We waited and waited but the plane that was supposed to take us to Miami got in late, and we started boarding after 9:00. By this time, I was starting to get worried about catching my 11:20PM flight from Miami to La Paz. The guy at the desk said they were going to hold the flight to Bolivia for us, though, so I relaxed. Then we got on the plane, it started taxiing to the runway for takeoff, and all of a sudden, there was a violent thunderstorm right over DC and we couldn't leave until it passed. An hour and a half we sat in the plane on the tarmac, waiting to be cleared for takeoff. Finally, between 10:30 and 11, the storm passed and we left for Miami. The flight was beautiful, we took off to the north and then circled around DC and Maryland to turn back around to go south. So I got to see the whole city from the air at night. Then, as we flew down towards Miami, we passed the storm's center (right out my window). It was amazing to see the lightning fill up the whole sky - and I had never seen a storm from a plane before. It made me think that my atmosphere and weather class was taught all wrong. We definitely should have taken a field trip to fly around a storm!
I got to Miami to find out that because of the extra hour and a half wait, those of us flying to Bolivia had been transferred to the next day's flight.
From there, the experience got better. I contacted a friend of mine who was speaking at a conference in Miami and he offered to let me crash in the hotel room he was staying in, and the hotel turned out to be right on the beach! So the following morning I spent a half an hour on the beach in Miami (see pic!). Then I found out my ticket had been upgraded to first class, so I had about the most luxurious plane ride ever (Dinner came complete with a fancy menu, a warm washcloth, a glass of wine, and warmed mixed nuts). I arrived in La Paz in the evening and was able to crash at my friend Holly's old place, due to the wonderful hospitality of her roommates. I finally got to Cochabamba on Sunday morning, and my luggage, which hadn't made it onto the plane to La Paz, came Sunday afternoon to Cochabamba and it was not a problem at all to pick it up.That was story of how it took me three days instead of 12 hours to get to Bolivia. Since I've been back, it's been great to see everyone. Unfortunately because of the travel debacle, I only got to spend a day and a half with Graciela, my fabulous (now former) housemate who left on Monday evening to go back to the States. Cochabamba is a little chillier now that it's winter, still warm during the day, but much cooler at nights. Right after Graciela left, Chichi's son and his Swiss wife came to visit, so it's been neat to meet them. Also, my friend Josh has been in town, which is great. The office is pretty chill, most people aren't back from traveling until next week, so I've been able to take care of some work things con calma.
That's the update! I'll send some more next week.
Abrazos,
Lily
PS One of the most fun things about being home last month was that we went out dancing a lot! So in honor of that, here's some dancing words of the day:
Bailar - To dance
Quiero aprender a bailar - I want to learn to dance
Te conoci bailando - "I met you dancing" also lyrics to a popular reggaeton song
Mira como baila! - Look at (him/her) dance!
Bailemos! - Let's dance!
Noche de salsa en Pancho's - Salsa Night at Pancho's (a locale in Cbba - where they play three salsa songs and the rest cumbia =( )
Vuelta - Turn/spin
Dar una vuelta - Do a turn
A la derecha - To the right
A la izquierda - To the left
La mano - hand
Cintura - Waist
Cinturon - Belt
Cadera - Hips
Pie - foot
Pie equivocado! - Wrong foot!
Menealo! - Shake it!
Muevelo! - Move it!
Dance steps of the day
uno dos tres - cinco seis siete - the counts for salsa (though I think it's easier to think of it as 'one-to-gether, two-to-gether')
uno-dos-uno-dos - the counts for merengue
uno-dos-tres-up! - the counts for bachata (it's like the electric slide!)
