I barely got any sleep at the Loki hostel in Cusco and woke up trying my best to not wake the others/ stay awake and not fall back asleep. I grabbed some breakfast, the receptionist ordered a taxi, said goodbyes and I was on my way to the airport.
I had 3 flights now. One from Cusco to Lima, then from Lima all the way to Panama, then from Panama to Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was going to be a long day, but I will make it in time to have one last crazy party weekend. The only issue was that I was still having stomach issues and pains. The flight from Cusco to Lima was late, but like 2 hours late, which barely gave me anytime to hop on the next plane in Lima. I was naturally calm about it, since I was tired and my body exhausted. Once we landed, I realized I had like half an hour to check-in my bags, pay the entry tax, go through customs, and run ferociously to the gate. When I was in line to get my bags checked, I grabbed the security guy and help me go to the front of the line and the employee said, “You have no time; you can’t stop running.” Oh I was getting on that plane alright. So I ran like a crazy woman, arms flaring, since I have all my carry-on bags with me. I thought my legs were going to give out they were so tired, since I just finished a 70Km trek to Machu Picchu the day before. A couple other Peruvian women were running too while hearing “This is your LAST and FINAL boarding call.” We made to the gate, which was actually the farthest one and panting and gasping for air, the flight attendants verified our tickets. I sat down and fell asleep.
I arrived in Panama to only eat and met an Israeli owner of a surf shop in Costa Rica. We ate Subway together and told stories. His hair was naturally turning blonde due to the sun – crazy!
Next flight, no bags to be checked, boarded and I sat beside this couple that was sort of annoying. The guy kept over analyzing the country entry card you fill in and was stressing about it hard. The girlfriend or wife had to seriously calm him down. It was hard to not say “It’s not that difficult, please chill out” because the tension was radiating. I tried to ignore it and sleep it off.
I arranged an airport pick-up in Buenos Aires with Florida Suites hostel, the same one I started off in. The guy was late and I was waiting there forever. Finally, I arrived in the Miraflores (centre/ downtown) and walked through the streets to a comforting place.
Diego and David two good friends were there to greet me, give me warm embraces and throw my bags into storage (I couldn’t get my room until 2pm). During my Machu Picchu trek, the one Scottish girl convinced to really go get myself checked out about these symptoms and stomach issues; I may have a parasite. Diego helped me so much about this. He got me to make sure I knew my health insurance policies before I took any actions. I found out that I needed to call them to let them know I was seeking medical assistance before I did so. The trying to call them took forever; there were about 5 phone numbers to choose from. Eventually, I got threw the line and Diego helped map out where the German hospital was because there they speak English. A million thanks to you, Diego!
It was raining, but I got to Hospital Alemán okay. It was very confusing as to what I had to do or where to go or who to see. Not everyone spoke English, but we tracked down some of them. I first had to wait to see the doctor. Then she sent me to get blood taken and fill out forms. I had to wait to get that done and it really hurt because the nurse missed my veins. I made some uncomfortable noises and she thought I was going to pass out (which I wasn’t), but she yelled out for an English nurse, to find out that it just hurt. Of course I had to leave my dictionary behind throughout this…big mistake. During my wait for the blood work results, I had to wait to get X-rays done of my stomach area. We had to do them twice because I left my bra on. This was very confusing and kind of scary. Once I got my blood test results and a new number to wait to see the doctor again for the follow-up, I called the hostel and spoke to Diego and Dave – it just made me feel better. I think I was having a good game face on about this and the hospital was clean, but I was still nervous and felt very confused all the time. In very broken (but appreciated) English, the new doctor (a male in early 30s), gave me the diagnoses. Pretty much that I had to take all the results to a doctor back in Canada and get a stool testing. He wrote me a prescription for these stomach antibiotics and told me not to drink while taken them – that was going to be difficult. We chatted for a bit, he called me young, I guessed his age, it was cute and now we were laughing. Clearly my time was up and there was a line of patients, so I didn’t want to keep them waiting. I left with a large bag with full size X-Rays. I have never been able to see those in real life before.
Once I found the prescription, the sun was coming out and the day was looking somewhat better. It was approaching (Canadian) dinner time. It was a Friday night and well. There was a pub crawl coming up…
I didn’t have heels or a clean dress (or any clean clothes for that matter), so what do you do? Treat yourself and buy some. Argentina is supposed to be the fashion capital of South America and I hadn’t got anything really hear before, so that’s how I convinced myself. I got adorable grey suede 4 inch heels and an outfit to match. The girls at the store helped pick it out for me. A simple tight light grey dress and grey denim dress skirt over. Peeeerrrrfect. I ate a quick bite, but was eager to get back to the hostel to actually check into my room.
My 6 bed dorm room was filled with Brazilian girls – just like last time. They were a couple years younger, but all very nice. I spread out my stuff and tried to get everything sorted – especially my dirty clothes, which filled most of my backpack. Laundry was a must.
I got quickly ready and met everyone at the bar downstairs to start off with; the Brazilian girls came too. We went to the club, Asia de Cuba and I could feel that the antibiotics were definitely not mixing well with drinking. I got home safe and sound to bed, but it was a rougher night.
The next day I was pretty dead tired, since the lack of sleep was catching up to me at this point; it was crazy to think I hiked Machu Picchu only a few days earlier. I ate lunch with Diego at this super sandwich place and forced myself to eat the entire thing. I should have taken a nap afterwards. He later walked with me to the laundry place and it was raining. We were dodging in and out from under buildings, but still got soaking wet. As we walked back, we gave up trying to stay dry and were completely drenched. It was pretty fun actually and we were going to meet back up with the group for the pub crawl.
Again starting in the bar downstairs, I saw all my familiar bartender faces. I befriended 2 Aussie and 2 Swedish girls. We drank our free beer and walked to our first pub. There were free shots for entry and shortly after we continued to another bar. It had a band playing below and a more lounge bar area upstairs. Finally we got to Pacha as the last destination. It was big and had an outdoor DJ stage for the night, but mostly morning. I walked past a familiar face and it was Tom, an Aussie guy, who I met while organic farming volunteering. He was in a panic to find money and I was on my way to get a drink. We all danced the night away until our feet ached and the sun rose. It began pouring rain again and Diego arranged cabs for everyone. We got the last one and I check my watch and it was almost 7am. The nights fly by when you’re here.
To my lovely surprise, I came down for breakfast and ran into the 2 Canadian sisters from Edmonton, Laryssa and Olenka. We jumped up and down, gave each other massive hugs and were excitedly clapping. We all went out for brunch and caught up with each other. We got way too much food, but it all was delicious. We got a antipasto platter and a pizza. That afternoon, I picked up my fresh laundry and hunted down an official Argentina jersey to get for my brother. I found one and came back to start packing. I was a sad process and I tried not to think of it. Me and the girls met up to write emails before we left for dinner and we got the staff to play Christmas music. I was getting super pumped while I belowed out the lyrics to "All I want for Christmas" by mariah Carey. I was happy to be with family for the holidays and miss all the pre-Christmas build up stress. I thought about our Christmas tree all lite up in our living room and decorating it while drinking wine. It would be nice to sit by our wood fire place and drink Baileys. The only thing is that I don't know how I can handle the snow. I have really liked wearing shorts in December.
That night there was a staff year end party, so Laryssa, Olenka, Rafael and I went out for a last delicious dinner. We had much time to waste and it turned out we spent 4 hours at the place eating and talking. It was a fancier restaurant, buffet style featuring Argentinean asado (barbeque); there was also a chocolate fountain! The restaurant was located beside the waterfront and you could see it out window while you were dining.
We walked all the way back to the hostel and I went to change. I tried to be super quiet because of this crazy random, older woman, who moved into our room the night before. The Brazilian girls told me she had yelled at them for being too loud and doing their hair with a blow dryer too late in the night. I crept out of the room to the Fusion bar, which was decorated in a tropical beach theme and we all joined in with the staff dancing to Latin classics. I was getting super tired and passed out after before the afterhours post party began.
I woke up to find something was in my packed stuff. Completely confused, I realized it was this crazy woman and I tried to move her. She said she was really hot and that’s why she moved closer to the air conditioning. Really she looked drunk and suffering from menopausal hot flashes. She got out of my stuff and flopped into the spare bed one of the younger Brazilian girls checked out of that morning. I took my stuff to storage (far far away from that woman) and ate the hostel’s free continental breakfast.
The Canadian sisters and walked with me for one last time down the miraflores strip. I got chocolate mint gelato and started waiting for my airport pick-up bus. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone and I was getting choked up. This was the end of my trip. I told Diego and the sisters I wish the bus got in a crash and that I had to stay. I waved goodbye out of the window and I was off to the now quite familiar airport.
On the plane, I sat beside a super nice older guy from Vancouver. We talked all the way to our stop-over in Santiago, Chile, but once we were heading toward Toronto, I slept almost the entire flight and even missed one of my free meals. When I was awake, I watched a documentary on the legendary artist Jean-Michel Basquiat.
When we landed there was snow on the ground and it was instantly cold. I picked up my pack from the luggage conveyor belt and walked towards the doors to meet my parents. I didn’t feel I was back and it was very disillusioned about returning. The doors were opening and closing up ahead and I could see my parents waving and jumping; I smiled. I arrived in one piece home in Canada.
