Friday- Going and Arriving

Yesterday: Procrastinated a lot in regards to packing by hanging out with Scott and Caleb and running extra- long errands. Eventually started packing around 6 or 7, went smoothly enough until I lost my passport. Couldn’t find the damn thing anywhere. Tore apart the house, my car, etc. as did my mom and Scott. Also checked the store, no such luck. As I was to the point of a complete breakdown, ready to call the emergency passport service or go swimming in Sunset Lake (hoping to be eaten by whatever creatures dwell there, and thus, avoid the wrath of my mother)- got a call from home saying that one the fourth survey of my car they found it. Life lesson: don’t lose your passport and zip your purse.

Left this morning (Friday) at 8:30 or so, Scott stopped by to say goodbye- wasn’t too fun. Made it to Rochester in good time, by 10:30 or so and hung around with my parents for an hour and then went through the whole security thing, boarded, etc. Arrived in Newark on time, and made it to my connecting flight- bit of a rush. Boarded no problems, and then sat on the runway for two hours- bad weather so we couldn’t take off. The flight ended up taking over four hours because we circled around the Houston airport quite a bit. Luckily- my next flight which was supposed to depart at 6:55 was delayed until 9:15, giving me an hour layover. Shame really, I was stoked for a night in the airport hotel without any new reading.

Currently waiting for flight to board. Not nearly as nervous as I was, a little bit though. I’m very excited to meet my host mother (Doña Ligia and her dog). I hope she is excited too! Probably going to be a long night by the time I get through customs, find her, get home- I wonder how that is working, get settled in. I don’t think there is anything on the itinerary for tomorrow but I’m not sure. Hopefully my Spanish won’t fail me too much.

All in all, sad to leave, excited to arrive.

Arrived in Merida at close to 1. Met my host mother outside of customs, she was with other people but I wasn’t introduced- just shooed away- she did say she would see them Monday. I got a hug and a kiss of the cheek and we went right to the taxi that was waiting for us. She seemed pleased with the Spanish I know (“bastante espanol”) and said that I would pick it up quickly. Made me feel good that she at least was understanding what I was saying, I understood a lot- definitely not all of what she said. Didn’t make it back to the house until 1:30 or so, she showed me my room and told me to sleep and not worry about when I wake up. Tomorrow she is going to get me a hammock to sleep in. Still not sure where the bathroom is though…

The house seems very nice, on a quiet, but nice street. We passed a zoo and a park on the way to it- and there are a bunch of food vendors at the park.

We’ll see what tomorrow brings- no activities planned yet.