Jen's SA farewell

I sit here in our hotel room at 6:45am on our last day in South America. I woke up this morning, eyes wide open and mind racing a million miles a minute, and I felt like a kid waking up on Christmas morning. My whole body was filled with excitement, eagerness, joy, appreciation, and hope. It’s finally here, the end of our 8 month trip to a different continent. Tomorrow morning we wake up and fly home to the warm welcome of my family and Booker. The anticipation of our new lives when we return is overwhelming. We are looking forward to so many different things. We are also left to wonder how our time and experiences here will change us and will affect our lives. We have learned a lot and don’t want that knowledge to get buried by the weight of reality when we return to our normal lives. We want to expand on what we’ve learned and unveil it even more to expose equilibrium and harmony in our lives.

Looking back on our decision to make this dream a reality, I’m not sure that I really had an idea in my mind on how our time would be spent in South America. I say that because I am trying to decide if the trip was what I expected it to be. I guess in many ways it was what I had expected – I learned a new language, was exposed to many different cultures and peoples, I volunteered and experienced the joy of giving back, I learned a lot about myself and AA and our relationship, I traveled and was fortunate enough to visit some of the most amazing locations on earth, and I had a lot of fun. And on the other side of that, the last 8 months have been far from what I expected. I never expected to make good friends along the way, I couldn’t envision the day-to-day life of living on the road, I was unaware of the stresses associated with traveling, I never imagined traveling on bus could be so luxurious (although I hope not to set foot on another bus for a very long time), the speed at which the time passed was unexpected, yet at the same time there were never-ending days and weeks, and lastly I was challenged and blessed in more ways than I ever expected. It is refreshing that both of us are looking forward to, and excited about returning to Colorado and work. We imagined that at this point of the journey we would be begging to stay longer and dreading returning to work. However, we are both appreciative of the time we’ve had here, but we are also really excited about returning to work again, being productive members of society, and moving forward with our lives.

Here are some random memories that remind me of our journey:

- We returned to Buenos Aires to visit our friends Guido and Natalia. They were trusting, friendly, and welcoming and AA and I were sitting in their living room, around 11pm at night, just finishing watching a movie, when Natalia walks in the door. She left for work before 8am that morning, and was just now getting home from a very long day of work followed by hockey practice. We talked and caught up, she showered and then we waited for Guido to get home. He finally got home from work around 12:30am and then at 1am we all jumped in the car and headed to the hot dog stand for dinner, followed by ice cream. Those two work so hard! It was a normal day for them, but an eye-opening one for us.

- We were in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, which is in northern Chile, and our destination was somewhere in Peru, we didn’t even know where yet. We get on an overnight bus that will take us to Arica, the border town on the Chilean side. We snuggle in for the night, get comfy with our blanket and pillow, and then the bus makes a stop about 1 hour later. I won’t ever forget the “party bus” as we now call it. About 25 locals got on the bus and brought the party with them. They had their music blaring all night, they were drinking and smoking (neither are allowed) and I was quite surprised when I went to use the bathroom at 3am and three people walked out of the tiny little stall. I can only imagine….. Once we arrived to Arica (having received no sleep the night before), from there we had to get a car to drive us across the border into Tacna, the border town of Peru. That went relatively smoothly. In Tacna we were gobbled up by an agent who “helped” us find a bus to Arequipa, the next big town where we could catch a bus to anywhere in Peru. He told us promptly that the next bus left in 5 minutes, and if we didn’t make that one we’d have to wait several hours for the next bus, so we frantically rushed and got the tickets and ended up getting taken advantage of because we only had Chilean money and so they basically charged us double (and I’m sure buses leave there every hour). The feeling after being ripped off sucks! That bus ride was another long one, and so by the time we arrived in Arequipa we were spent. Not to mention be both were sick this whole time, struggling with adjusting to the altitude changes. But, we were not to our final destination. So there we found a bus going to Chivay. Apparently the trip would only take 3.5 hours, so we were excited and anxious to finally get to our destination. Well, that was another bus trip from hell. It involved traveling up the Andes Mountains in a bus that was incapable of doing so. It was like being on the little bus that could, it tried and tried and huffed and puffed, but unfortunately it broke down 4 times. Because we were near the tops of the Andes it was very cold outside (and dark, nighttime again). It actually started snowing near the top, so visions of us sleeping on the bus in the freezing cold filled my mind, becoming closer to a reality each time it broke down. After closer to six or seven hours the bus finally managed to make it to Chivay. We had been traveling on various buses and cars for over 24 hours, gotten very little sleep (or food), and on top of that still needed to find a place to stay for the night. This is just one of the many bus stories we have from our 8-months traveling via bus.

- It was fun to see the progression of our Spanish, measured through our understanding of the church sermon. Our first time going to church in Buenos Aires we understood three words: Dios (God), pan (bread), and Jesus. That’s it! Eventually we recognized more and more words, and the last time we went to church we were able to understand the general meaning of the sermon. Although we don’t understand everything, we can identify most of the words and usually at least get the main idea. Looking back from where we started we have come a long way!

- It has been confirmed on this trip that there’s not much that makes me happier than dogs, babies, and running! The simple joys of my life…..

- We arrive by bus to Maringa, Brazil in order to meet AA’s friend Gui’s family and stay with them for an unknown amount of time. The only problem is we spoke basically no Portuguese and we had no idea what they looked like. After wandering around for a short time we locate them. They seemed extremely nice and friendly, but the communication barrier made it extremely difficult for us. I knew how to say “hi” and “thank you”, so I repeated those two words way too many times. Valdir, Gui’s dad, spoke absolutely no English, so the two of us communicated very little. He stuck with AA because AA at least knew a few more words than me, and plus AA talks with his whole body and arms, so at least Valdir felt like he was making more progress with him. Luci, Gui’s mom, ended up brushing up on her English by the end of the week and by the end of the week we were able to communicate somewhat. I have some fond memories of joining her for ladies night at her “club” (as in country club, not party club). But this country club was made ALIVE with drinks and smokes and bunches of (older) women joined in a circle dancing to 80’s music. Good times!

- I remember feeling like a little 3-year old clinging to her daddy when we were at the Catolica vs. Cola Cola soccer game in Chile. The stadium was just insane with people everywhere, commotion, loud chants, rivalry, drums, banners, everything. I just clinged to AA for safety and followed him and Diego wherever I was led. I also remember at that game getting nailed in the head with a rock. The stadium is divided into two sections, making it impossible for the fans from the two sides to have physical contact with each other (obviously for safety reasons). Therefore, the bitter fans result to throwing rocks over the tall wire dividers in order to show their displeasure with the other team. Luckily I got side-swiped and not hit directly in the head. That could have been the end of me!

There are so many more memories, but those definitely leave a lasting impression of our time here. We have been blessed incredibly and feel so fortunate to have had this experience with each other. I’ll end with a few bible verses that have either been the inspiration for taking the trip or just insights picked up along the way.

- Exodus 23:10-11; “For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the crops, but during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what they leave.” For those of you who haven’t heard the story on how we made the decision to take off this year, it had to do with this passage. We had made an offer on a house which ended up falling through. We learned of this on a Friday and immediately AA suggested taking our money and traveling instead. We began to pray about it and that Sunday we went to church and the sermon was about “Pressing Pause on Life and Filling up on God.” Our pastor quoted this passage and ironically we had both been working for 6 years, this would have been our seventh. This among other factors led us to believe it was God’s will for us to take a year to travel, grow, and fill up on Him.

- Dueteronomy 24:5; “If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married.” I like to stress the part about bringing happiness to his wife :-)

- Ephesians 5:33; “However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.” Seems so simple…..

- Philippians 2: 3-4; “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”



I now wear my “shield of faith” every day and remember what’s most important to me: Faith, Family, and Friends. I’m reminded of the fruits of the spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, goodness, and self-control), the feather symbolizes my friends (long story), and the heart my family.