Traveling and Home in Puerto Madryn

Before

Traveling to our pueblo takes forever and a day.  We left my parents' house in Southern California at 9:30 AM on Sunday morning and arrived at our new casita at 9:00 PM on Monday night.  We had an 11 hour night flight, and as usual, Carmela got sucked into the screen in front of her.  She didn't sleep a wink. Imagine her peachy disposition the following day!

After landing in Buenos Aires at 10:00 AM, we bused to the smaller airport to catch our flight south.  Upon arrival, Carmela was a HOT MESS.  Argentinian Airlines refused to check our luggage 5 hours before our flight, so we camped out in the departures ticketing area like a vagabond pit stop.  In a matter of minutes Carmela was curled up sleeping on the filthy tile floor.  Passengers stepped over her legs with curious expressions.

During

After unloading our TWELVE bags, we got through security and found our gate.  Carmela dropped her sack on the carpeted floor, and curled up next to it.  She passed out again.  I could barely wake her to get her on the plane - where all of us enjoyed some needed shut-eye!

When we landed in Trelew, we had a one hour bus ride booked for our final journey home, but as we cleared security, we were greeted with besos and abrazos by Stella and Daniela.  It was the sweetest welcome and a beautiful surprise.

Daniela's amazing husband loaded us in his king cab, and Stella grabbed the kids in her car.  The dry chaparral and Patagonian lowlands were a fantastic sight as we cruised the highway home.

We arrived in our new tiny house across the street from Stella, and we were welcomed by the lovely owner Ana.  We spent the next several hours getting settled, and none of us got to sleep until well after midnight.

Two days later, we got our car jump started and broke into our friend Luciano's house with the help of a locksmith to retrieve the mountain of boxes Adam packed from our old bungalow.  It was incredible how many things we accumulated in only three months!

After

I can't even begin to imagine how difficult those days were for Adam... managing the mites, packing up the house, caring for and preparing the kids to travel.  What a nightmare, and through it all, his attention to detail was incredible.  He packed my most mundane and trite items with love and care... the junk drawer, bags of spices, my lists of Spanish words off of the tile kitchen walls.  Incredible.