My Crazy Trip

I went home the other weekend. Home as in home home….New Jersey. I left my house in Mendoza on Friday April 27 at 4:30 PM. I went to what has to be the cutest airport ever. I mean, where else do they have grapes growing right along side the driveway? The immigration officer didn’t want to let me leave Argentina. See they have this asinine law that says Argentine residents, under 21 years of age, are not allowed to leave the country without the permission of a parent/guardian. I hold a year-long student visa, which makes me a temporary resident and I’m only 20. Thank goodness the other immigration officer was able to interject and say that in getting the visa, my parents granted me permission to travel freely. I have left Argentina 5 or 6 times, by bus, boat and plane, and no one has ever said anything to me. This just goes to prove that bureaucracy in this country is very screwed up.

I sat around while we waited for the plane to arrive from Santiago and then left late. The flight is about 25-30 minutes and you don’t even really get above the clouds. The plane gets just high enough to cross without crashing into the Andes mountains. Its actually a really beautiful view: you look out the window and its like, “Hello, snow. Hello, mountain.” (wow, nice view!) After touching down in Santiago, I boarded a refurbished long-distance bus (and by refurbished, they took some seats out) to go from the plane to the terminal. I immediately went to security and entered the international terminal, which was practically like being in America. Hello, Starbucks! (and Dunkin’ Donuts and Ruby Tuesday). I resisted the Starbucks and got a strawberry colata and one munchin (ok, that cost all of the $1100 pesos I had; I actually couldn’t afford starbucks).

For my next flight, I had to go through the “special for people flying to America” security check, which was a hand search of everyone’s carry on luggage. The only problem was, I had taken a Tylenol PM before doing the boarding pass thing and getting to this check point. So, I was practically falling asleep as I assured the airport personal that no, I was not carrying liquids (I neglect to carry my over-the-regulation-sized bottle of benadryl as liquid). I actually only slept for 5 hours of the flight, which was full. Miami international airport is a delightful place to be at 5:30AM. I power walked to immigration so I could go right through. I was greeted by a southern accent from a way-too-chipper immigration officer who welcomed me home (the first time that has ever happened….they’re much bitchier in NY and NJ and in Boston they don’t even bother to stamp my passport, let alone welcome me home). After grabbing my bags, I went to pass customs and was selected for the “random search.” Its now 6:15AM and I have to deal with a customs agent going through my stuff and questioning me as to why I have been in South America (Peru! Bolivia!) for so long and what was I doing there. I am also carry two bottles of wine (I’m under 21…), which the moron managed to miss. They were wrapped in a Peruvian hammock and quite obviously glass bottles. I have a lot of newfound faith in the US Customs and Border Patrol (not.).

My next flight was delayed with a departure gate change, which meant I got to New York ½ an hour later than scheduled and found my parents waiting for me at the exit of the terminal. We got my bag and went home. I was in HP from Saturday afternoon until Tuesday afternoon. In that time I had sushi for dinner, whitefish salad for lunch and went to my grandfather’s wake and funeral. For my return flight, we went back to La Guardia where I flew to Texas. The only problem was, we sat on the runway in New York an extra half hour before taking off and therefore, got to Texas late. I had to hurry through the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, which was actually quite nice. The monorail was quick and the international terminal had a million restaurants and stores. Before getting on the plane, I bought myself one last meal in America: a bottle of Aquafina, tortilla soup from a Tex/Mex place, and Ben and Jerry’s strawberry kiwi sorbet. Ben and Jerry’s was actually closing/closed, but the guys gave me a scoop for free (I tipped them).

The flight to Santiago was practically empty except for a group of men going to look for copper…I’m not entirely sure who they worked for or what exactly they were doing, but one was really excited because he had just found a copper penny at the airport. I still didn’t have my boarding pass for the Santiago flight, so I asked the woman at the desk at the gate (in English). She had just been speaking English with another person, but decided to respond to my questions in Spanish. I don’t know why. Then, I took two Nyquil and got on the plane. I woke up off and on during the 9 hour flight and then finally woke up and realized that I only had about 35 minutes before my next plane left.

When I got off the plane, a man was waiting with a clipboard. I gave him my name and he told me to run down the hall to the security check. I still didn’t have a boarding pass, so I stopped at the check-in area, where another guy escorted me through security and up the stairs to the Lan question desk. There, I was handed my boarding pass and told to rush to the gate. I got to the gate with 5 minutes to spare. The 25 minute flight was really nice, just like the first one and Mariana met me at the airport. I went home and went to bed.