"Gringa":White chick
Today I headed to the airport to visit my grandparents who live in Delaware, and I have to admit that it was strange to be in an airport where English is the primary language. For the past 7 months traveling within Costa Rica, Chile, and Argentina, I have become accustomed to walking into an airport or a bus station and immediately speaking Spanish. In fact I almost reverted back to Spanish upon walking into the airport. That’s what 7 months will do.
7 months. Writing that down seems unreal to me, and quite hard to believe. Regardless, going out on a limb and travelling solo was the best decision I have made so far in my life. Now when I say best I don’t mean that it was the easiest; it most certainly was not. It was challenging, new, exciting, stressful, scary, but most importantly rewarding. I won’t lie to you, I once did face-time audio with my mom in the center plaza of the smallest “town” I have ever seen in my life, that somehow miraculously had free Wi-Fi crying about how I was tired of traveling on my own and that I hated the city I were I had been dumped. That was my low point. I give my mom kudos as she talked to me calmly and told me I was already brave for being alone and traveling for as long as I was. I didn’t feel brave as I sat in that plaza for probably two hours, disappointed that I had wasted my precious traveling time going to a town with less inhabitants than my high school where I couldn’t do the hike that I had planned because there was no bus in or out for a week and all of the hiking outfitters had so kindly not opened that day. The point is, not every day is your best day, and some may down right suck, but even the low days will end up making your trip worthwhile making the best experiences seem even sweeter. One of the days when I doubted myself, wondering if it was normal to be a little homesick, I turned to a friend who had been living in Puerto Natales, Chile for years now after arriving as a tourist and just never going home. I asked him if he ever missed home. He told me, “No, not once. I love it here and only went back home after I felt like it had been a while since I had seen my family and that I probably SHOULD go back.” This shocked me as I thought it was impossible to never, not once miss home. I am not this “never-miss-home” traveller. There are many blogs that may pop up on your facebook newsfeed describing the “5 types of travelers” or the “5 American things you’ll lose when you travel to China,” as if we are all going to have the same experiences traveling. I find these blogs to have some truth, but in reality, I don’t buy these descriptions. Travelling solo you have the luxury to reinvent yourself every day in every hostel and every town. One day you may be the traveller who likes to wander solo, and the next day you may crave to travel in a group and go to the “party hostel” instead of the “chill homey hostel” tucked nicely away into a cute neighborhood next to a coffee shop. Most importantly, it’s okay to be homesick and its okay to miss the comforts of your own home. It just means that you not only love and appreciate where you are and whom you are with in the moment, but you also love and appreciate what you left behind. My neighbor and close friend recently gave me a bracelet that contains a quote that describes this feeling perfectly. It reads “ Be grateful for what you have and mindful for what you can become.” The bracelet is made by a brand called Trust Your Journey. Every time that I travel, the “what you have” grows as it is enriched by stunning views, amazing experiences, and people who truly have left a mark on me, challenging the way I think and approach future endeavors. At the same time, the “what you can become” part widens with every new opportunity. A new opportunity was recently thrown my way that more that expands what I can become. I am thrilled to announce that I have accepted a job that will be taking me back to Peru at the end of this month. For the next year I will be able to call the Amazon rainforest and the CREES Manu Learning Center my home. I am excited to reunite with friends and work for an incredible organization whose mission is to support a sustainable Amazon by helping people from all over the world understand and value the importance of the rainforest. It would be unnatural to not be slightly nervous. A year will be the longest that I have ever been away from my home, my family, my friends, and my comfort zone. But I trust my education and my past travel experiences, and I trust the values that parents have taught me. Whatever my future holds, I trust my journey. Please trust my journey as well.
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Photo used under Creative Commons from Felipe Arias U.