Finally we are home
Bolivia 2007 July 13th, 2007 by GennaHey everyone, just letting anyone who has kept up with this blog know that we have all finally made it home. We started out super early Thursday morning (at the airport at 5am) for our 7:00 flight. Around 8 or 9 we learned that the plane had encountered some ice in the air or something random and had by-passed La Paz (where we were) and instead gone directly to Santa Cruz; which had been our problem on Monday. At this point we were wondering if we were ever going to return home but we have, our plane eventually showed up around 2:00pm and we took off at 3:00; I can’t even explain how happy we were to leave the airport. Unfortunately the plane had to return to Santa Cruz to re-fuel and they then performed a security check while we were on the plane…an interesting experience to say the least. We missed all our connecting flights but American Airlines put us up in a hotel and provided us with food coupons though we only were able to sleep for about 2 hours before heading back to the airport. Our group was split into three different groups, one went through Chicago, one through Dallas, and another through Seattle. As one who headed off to Seattle we were unfortunately put into the SLOWEST moving line through security, every single one of us had to be checked and even were put into a tall glass box-like-thing as they separated us from the other individuals. Of course this is all happening as our plane is already boarding. At one point Kyle, Genna, Winston, and I (Bri) were all in this random glass box and Win started knocking on the glass and waving at the security guards who walked by, wondering if they had forgotten us. As we were taken out separately so our carry-on luggage could be checked Winston took off running for our gate, later to be followed by a sprinting Genna and Kyle who called to me, “We won’t let them leave without you!” Man, I should hope not! Well, I wasn’t far behind them as I struggled to not trip in my shoes that weren’t quite on and my bag bumbled around with all my loose money and change jingled in it. Arriving at gate C10 our plane was definitely not there but someone called that instead it was at C14 so we booked it there and thankfully made the flight. Once in Seattle we quickly got to our next gate and were able to grab a few things to eat/snack on before we boarded our 45 min flight to Portland.
Everyone from the team eventually made it, a few earlier than we had thought which was awesome and then we split up, 5 team members staying in Portland while the other five of us left Portland and though traffic made our trip much longer than otherwise it would have been, we are all here now. All of our luggage made it, we are all home and are not only excited to take long warm showers, but to also drink water out of the tap, eat lettuce, and sleep in our own beds. It has been a very long week but God provided through it all. Having a weekend to recoup is going to be awesome! Thanks everyone who prayed for us while we were gone, especially as the trip turned from 2 weeks into almost 3. So that’s it, we are finally back in the states and are all very excited to tell people about our experiences in Chile.
Chao!
Bri