FIRST KILL THE ROOSTERS: RETURN TO SOUTH AMERICA

January 31, 2012

We hate all night flights more than most people, I think.  While Michael seems to be able to nap intermittently, unless I can put my legs up and recline a bit, I am not able to sleep, making me fidgety and miserable.  So lucky us-- we have not one but two “all-nighters” in a row!   It was wonderful to return home to LA.  The weather could not have been more beautiful, and the warmth and love from our friends and relatives was rejuvenating.  It is comforting to have the food we missed so much, like fresh green salads, roasted chicken, and a few glasses of wine.  Yes, just simple things like being able to go to Target or Trader Joe’s and know where everything was, and find what we needed at a reasonable price is something we all take for granted until one is deprived of this for a couple of months, like we just were. Only then do you realize how important those simple things really are.  I had to go to the mall even though I didn’t need anything.  It was important for me to be able to walk around without worrying about prices, translation, money exchange problems, or the fear of dangerous nefarious characters bugging me.  It was good to have a little unexpected, hometown shot in the arm to prepare us for the rest of our journey.  However, I do want to add one thing to bring everyone up to date on the rest of our stay in Margarita VZ. 

Had it not been for meeting wonderful new friends, Antonio and Carli, in line at Bogota airport, we would not have enjoyed our time there nearly as much.  These wonderful people are from Margarita and made sure we saw the best the island had to offer.  We were lucky enough to be with them on several occasions during our stay.  Carli not only gave us two half day tours, but one night we shopped in a local store and went back to their condo where I was able to cook with her in their kitchen.  Since they have children studying abroad in Canada, we hope that someday soon they will bless us with the opportunity to show them our city and introduce them to my kitchen!

We have four and a half more months of travel.  Because the last month is spent in the familiar territory of Buena Vista, the first three and a half will be totally adventure and surprise, which we look forward to even with the  knowledge that some of it might not always be pleasant.  Take the last 24 hours for example.  We started with flying all night long, broken up by three different flights-- one to El Salvador, then Costa Rica, then on to Caracas.  We had an unexpected tight connection between CR and Caracas that called for an early morning run through the airport. We ran one way just to find that the gate was changed, and had to turn around and run twice as far in the other direction with only 5 minutes to spare.  It is never pleasant to run on little sleep, but with a full bladder (me) and Michael’s added heart problems, it is really not fun at all!   However, I am glad he is now getting the cardiac rehab he refuses to do at home!!  Then add the hour of customs and waiting for bags, and the unexpected complication of not having the address to our hotel, which necessitated a WiFi café experience at the airport to find the information.  I was under the false assumption that the hotel’s name alone was good enough-- not so!  Add to that a 45 minute cab ride to our destination with both of us greatly anticipating the comfort of a bed.  We would have been grateful for a hammock, two chairs put together, anything that would allow us to lie down and get some sleep! Unfortunately, I was not prepared for what we found.

We are finding that when you find hotels on the internet they aren’t always as nice as the pictures they post.  Like Margarita Island, we are once again surrounded by a very poor neighborhood. While our room is a fairly clean and spacious one bedroom apartment-like facility, the bed is old and worn out and not at all comfortable. The sheet covering the mattress is thin revealing many rips and tears along the seams. This left me conjuring up nightmares about which one of our nearby neighbors might have discarded this mattress, and there being no nearby dumps, it ended up recycled here in our room!!  However, knowing this was just a temporary setback, and the need for sleep so overpowering, I soon trusted the ability of my robust immune system to fight any possible altercations with all the germs we might be exposed to and drifted off into a fitful slumber until the roosters started crowing at 3 am!! 

Fortunately, we were fine until this morning.  At breakfast by the pool, I was attacked by the invisibles again. These unseen mosquito’s cause intense, burning pain that doesn’t let up without generous cortisone cream, antihistamine doses, and Advil.  We are currently hiding back in our room, dreading the next night flight that we will take tonight at 7:30 pm to Argentina. Fortunately there is just one layover in Sao Paulo.  However, we do see a light at the end of this torture.  We have no more flights for six weeks and we are staying in a nice apartment in a good area of Buenos Aires for as long as we want to be there.  Additionally we have a good friend who has lived there for five months who is going to meet us tomorrow and help us get acquainted quickly. Other than some heat and humidity, we have been told we will be in a place that will be both fascinating and beautiful.  Tango lesions here we come!!