Loco de la Señora del Reloj

We have safely arrived in Apartado! I wrote a post on Tuesday when were traveling and so I'm just now posting about our travels. I promise the rest of my posts won't include so much detail. It was a long evening in Medellin and I think this post was a result of anxiety and boredom. More to come on our experience here in Apartado.

8/2
Today was a long journey, but now we're enjoying the comfort of a hotel room in Medellin. Last night Kelsey and I flew into Miami. I arrived at 5pm and spent my time reading, doing Rosetta Stone and people watching. Kelsey arrived at midnight and we enjoyed some catching up time and sharing tales of our day’s journey. The ticket counter for TACA said it would be open at 1:15am, so we killed time in the lobby, looking forward to finding a cozy spot to sleep near our gate. 1:15 came and went, still no employees at the counter. So we waited. And waited. Finally at 3:30am we were able to check in, check our bags and head through security, looking forward to the glorious carpet that awaited us.

Our gate was deserted which meant we got our choice of sleeping space. I was so tired I laid down and fell asleep pretty much right away. But the blessed sleep was short lived because I woke up an hour later, freezing cold. I guess the Miami airport turns up the AC at 5 am. Not ideal when you’ve packed for a trip expecting 90ºF and 90% humidity. In addition to the cold, there were some pretty annoying announcements on the intercom. Elevator music and CNN were our constant audio soundtracks, but we also got a very helpful time update every 15 minutes saying "The current local time is..." That clock lady was aggravating to say the least. Unable to sleep, Kelsey and I opted for the food court which had hot beverages. We discovered some padded benches that looked comfy. At this point we were so tired we didn’t care if the food court employees were scowling at us, so we each took a bench and got one more hour of sleep.

7:15am came around and it was time to head to our gate. We boarded with no problems and I fell asleep as soon as I had my seatbelt buckled. 2 more glorious hours of sleep. We landed in San Jose, Costa Rica, boarded a bus on the jetway like celebrities and rode to the terminal, only to go right back on a bus to another plane heading toward Medellin. At this point I was tired but not sleepy, so I opted to watch the in flight movie. My head was full of anxieties like worrying I wouldn’t get through customs or that my bag didn’t make it to Colombia. Fortunately it was a quick flight and we were in Colombia by 1:30pm. I fumbled through my explanation of why I was visiting Colombia and got my Visa. Victory! I was sort of flattered at how the customs agent was patient with my broken Spanish. Amazing how in the U.S. we’re so impatient with people who don’t speak English. Here I’ve felt very encouraged by our hosts, taxi drivers and that customs agent.

We were met at baggage claim by our new friend, Maria (not her real name) who is a member of the Iglesia Presbyteriana de Colombia here in Medellin. She has been a gracious host and was very helpful in getting our flight changed from today to tomorrow. We would have been so lost without her! She then took us to a hotel where we would stay for the night and we had dinner at the restaurant across the street. Not a bad way to end the day! I was so tired I could barely focus on our conversation and I certainly didn’t have the energy to try and speak Spanish to her. I hope tomorrow will be different after I’ve had a full night of sleep on an actual bed!

I've made a vow to stop complaining once we leave Medellin - pretty sure the waambulance doesn't make calls to Apartado.



New word in my Spanish vocabulary: Proximo
Dictionary definition: “Next”
Contextual definition: If the woman at the ticket counter yells “Proximo” at you, it means it is your turn, you idiot. Pay attention and stop making her angry. It’s 3:15 am and she’s not pleased about being at work right now.