back in the states

You know you had a good trip when you come back to your home country and have reverse culture shock.

We both had different flights back and really different experiences leaving.

Sarah:
After eating our last chifa (yeah we finally found the cheap food... at the end of our trip ><) and saying bye to  the new friends we had made in Barranco Backpackers Hostel we finally had to leave Peru :(

My flight back was a nightmare... My first flight was canceled due to "bathroom problems" that required the police to bring sniffer dogs into the plane... we basically had to wait 4 hours for the people at the airport to admit to us that our flight was canceled after all... So yeah 13 hours later in the airport I finally get another plane and they figure out other connections I will be able to make to get back HOME!! The rest of the flight was pretty uneventful (mostly sleeping on and off)... I was disappointed about the food though... no chicken and rice :(
Back in the US, I was excited to be able to use English again, and the ease of communicating to people... when I first arrived in Miami I wanted to try English out with all the people in the airport I could... little did I know that most people in the airport actually spoke mostly Spanish
Once I got back to NC Justina and I and a couple friends ended up going to Shooters... as soon as I got the the cashier I pull out my wallet and start counting out my cash... hand it over to the guy... he just stares at me and says "this isn't gonna work... this isn't gonna work". I look down at the money I had handed him... Argentinian PESOS!!! hahaha guess I'm still really mixed up from traveling haha!!!!


Justina:
AHH HORRIBLE TAN LINES!! from not wearing sunscreen at Machu Picchu T_T oh unjoyous peeling sunburn.

At my layover in Bogotá, because of some crazy complicated thing regarding my baggage, I somehow ended up standing outside of the airport, with people telling me to go back in to check in for my connection. But...I couldn't miss this perfect opportunity to explore Colombia for an hour!! So I got a taxi to take me into the city and I walked around the old part of Bogotá, where their White House equivalent is. Totally spontaneous and unplanned...and so cool! The taxi driver taught me a lot about Colombian history, culture, etc, all in Spanish. Wow, the Colombian accent is so distinct! I caught a little bit of it on video...

Awesome how the adventure doesn't end, even when you think it's over!

Once back in the states, I was soooo excited for MOM-FOOD! omnomnom I was practically inhaling the noodles. Oh, vegetables, how I have missed you so! But besides food, adjusting back has been rough, for both of us. We really enjoyed our trip and miss being in South America - we've learned so much and changed in positive ways. Today I went back to Duke and all my friends kept telling me I have a different positive aura that wasn't there before, like a really happy one. Yay!

Anyway, we have lots of anecdotes and videos we forgot to share, and we'll post soon.

Even though the trip is over, we'll continue blogging here, so staaaay tuned :) Justina moves to NY on Tuesday (one way flight, no job and no apartment!).