Tuesday, May 31, 2011

We're baaaaaaaaaack!

Okay, so...this is awkward. It has been over two months (more? Dunno.) since the last post that took place in Quito, Ecuador, which I believe was written extremely behind schedule, probably in Argentina somewhere. Besides the fact that Kat and I are oh so good at procrastinating and making excuses for doing anything else other than things we said we would (you all know it to be true) this was not the case with our blog, or so we'd like to think. We were just doing way to much. The days we did post multiple logs at a time we just didn't do anything that day. But when we kept having to decide between actually doing and seeing things or writing about things we've already done, we opted to live in the moment. It was a hard decision to make considering we knew our parents were nervously biting finger nails and refreshing their inboxes furiously, but we also knew they'd feel differently after we got home and gave a verbal account of all the incredible places we've been and showed photos we've compiled.

So as I now sit cozy on my blue couch in Brooklyn in my home sweet home, I cannot believe what I did with my time the last few months nor wrap my head around how natural it feels to be here now. As Kat and I pontificated during some walk around some national park or whilst sitting on a beach in paradise, we realized we were living in a wrinkle in time. We were operating within the string theory, full on. We hopped off the main grid and left NYC in shambles (clearly it cannot function without our presence), and went about a 4 month trip that really felt more like a year, or a lifetime. We maximized every minute, day, meal, opportunity, month, trek, stroll, whatever. We did it up! Meanwhile we knew full well that life didn't stop and Brooklyn wasn't in freeze frame until our return, but once you're living another life you have to actively remind yourself of what things are like even though you cannot see them first hand. When May 24th came around and we landed in a hot, muggy city rather than a cold, snowy one, it was clear, nay obvious, that time elapsed. Go figure! But it felt good to hop in my mom's car and merge onto the BQE and watch the Manhattan skyline float by. After telling acquaintances for the last 4 months that I'm from New York City and to have each and every person be excited, impressed, jealous, in awe, what have you, I then felt a great sense of pride and awe myself for having gone so far and having held my hometown so close to me. To know that what I can come back to is a place many consider to be the best city in the world definitely eases the transition back to real life.

And back we go. I start back on the Wafels & Dinges truck bright and early in the morning. Kat has been in a cuddle pile 3 feet high full of little bursts of energy and enthusiasm that are her siblings. After Kathleen hosed her down and put her in a fumigator (still don't know what that means), Kat was bathed in Purell and rewarded for her patience with Thai food, Sushi and homemade meatballs that she pre-ordered by email with her folks before we came back. Kat will be home in NYC until the end of June before she goes back to Ann Arbor to continue working on the Community Farm & Kitchen. Until then she will spend time with family and hanging out with friends. We have to get used to coordinating to hang out instead of just waking up together in the same room, tent or hammock.

That has been one of the weirdest parts of the transition. Kat and I became a unit, one mind and synced excretory systems (not to get too detailed). We not only finished each other's sentences but sometimes the other couldn't even get out their sentence because the other one was already saying it and the first one was left speechless because how many people in the world say the things you were about to say word for word? (Phew, long sentence.) The answer is not many! Needless to say we are super close. We learned so much on the trip in general, but having a friend, mom, sibling, teacher, listener built into a journey like this one was more than we could've asked for. To be able to shoot the shit (excuse the language) day-to-day, and also tackle intense, existential life questions when we felt up to the challenge, with a soul sister (hermana de alma) was the best ongoing aspect of all 4 months.

We had debates about traveling alone versus with others, but I think the fact that we still love each other more than anything and would love to take another trip together some day is evidence that for our friendship the trip was a major success! Kat, I know you're listening, and I know I'm not saying anything new, but you are da bomb, the shit, the mother of all that is friendship and although I know I am physically capable of doing what we did on my own, I wouldn't have had it any other way than to be able to share every day with you.

We learned so much and there is no way we will just live our lives from now on without thinking each day about the experiences we had or the people we met or the places at which we marveled. For this we will also not just dump the blog like it wasn't our major means of communication to our home planet for 2 months. Therefore we will keep writing and looking back on our trip, but in a different way. Instead of a day-by-day or place-by-place account like we did originally, we will find common themes, ideas, types of trips that we did and organize the blog that way. We still have so much to say and reflect on so we hope that although we are now in the states that this is still of interest to you. If not, then don't read it. But when you ask about our trip and it's evident you didn't read the blog I will yell at you. Just kidding, e-memories aren't the only way.

Lastly, thank you to all who kept up with the blog, whether you read each and every entry or just one and realized how long they were so you decided never to do it again. It was so amazing to think about family and friends at home that were interested and excited for all the things we were doing. It made it all that much for exciting to know we had the love and support from the home front. We felt capable of everything. Maybe that's why we never got into any altercations in dark alley ways, an experience we were convinced was the initiation into the South American backpacker's life. But alas, someone was watching down on us from above, and it might've had something to do with all of you at home who were thinking of us almost as much as we were thinking of you.

Love love love
Sophisticated Koala