Final days and the long route home.

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After our overnight in Jujuy we woke up early, grabbed our laundry and mad a 2 hour drive to Salta. We dropped off our rental car at the airport and took a short flight to Buenos Aires.

I accidentally forgot that I had my pocket knife in my check on and got caught with it. This knife is a stainless steel swiss army knife. It was my wedding gift from Mark and engraved with my name and our wedding date. It cost $300. Would you believe that I also got Mark a knife as a wedding gift; he collects big knives so I got him one with a dragon as a handle. Neither one of us knew we were getting a knife. It was a cool moment to realize we picked the same gift and not really a typical gift. Someone told me that it is bad luck to give a knife as a wedding gift but I never knew that. When security told me I couldn't take the knife on board my heart sank. The knife is very sentimental to me and I immediately rushed back to the LAN baggage check counter to see if I could put the knife in my checked luggage. It didn't look good. The woman working for LAN gave me "the look" and told me it would not be likely they could get my bag off the plane for me. I asked her to please check for me and was extremely relieved a few minutes later when one of the luggage guys came back with my bag. I was so happy they could work it out for me. I looked the luggage guy in the eye and thanked him over and over again. He didn't speak english and I couldn't say more than "gracious" so I spoke to him with my eyes. I had my hand over my heart and was physically showing him how happy I was and how much it meant to me to be able to check my knife. I looked into his eyes and spoke to him with my eyes to give my thanks. I did feel very rushed to get the knife packed so he could take my bag and get back to work. I put the knife in a small pocked in the front of my backpack and boarded the flight.

That night I needed my knife and went to take it out of my bag. It wasn't there. I unpacked every single thing out of every single bag I had (even though I knew exactly where I put it). I'm sure it was stolen. I suspect that man who looked me in the eyes stole it because he saw exactly where I put it and because he would have been alone with my bag in the back room at the airport in between the check in counter and the tarmac outside. I could be wrong but I don't think I am. I feel so violated and so upset about my knife.

I put in a complaint at LAN and was told the matter would be investigated and the airport manager from LAN would contact me on Nov. 23rd. I'm still waiting for his call. I don't expect a response.

It was good to be back in B.A. and in a small way it felt a bit like coming home. It was the first time in 3 weeks we spent time in a city we already knew and I felt more confortable in the city this time. I knew the subway and I knew where to get lunch and how to order cold milk in Spanish. I had some sad feelings knowing I would be leaving South America and it was strange thinking I would be back home in just 36 hours....or so I thought.

We could not get a room at our original hostal, as they were booked up. Instead we stayed at a hostel in the neighbourhood of Palermo. This neighbourhood is hip and trendy and considered to be the best place to go for a good restaurant or a hot nightclub. The weather was warm, the internet wasn't working and neither was the elevator. As luck would have it our room was on the top floor. Off I went up I don't know how many flights of stairs with myself, my bags, Malaya and a stroller. Not so much fun. You can imagine my feelings of thrill and relief when I got to the top of the hot room and found a small fan. Yay, a fan.

After leaving the hostel we set out to find a nice restaurant where we could have an Argentinian steak dinner. After walking for about half an hour we found a a nice looking place with white tablecloths. I didn't know what to expect but it was past Malaya's dinnertime and I thought it would probably be good enough. I can tell it that it was better than good. It was fabulous. steak dinner and it was the kind of meal that you have to say mmm mmm mmm after each and every bite. I am still thinking about it. The three of us had starters of peanuts and 4 varieties of fresh break, our main dish, I had 1/2 bottle of Malbec wine, Mark had 2 jumbo beers, we got a brownie to go and left a nice tip for $50. Good luck finding that in Canada.

The following morning we walked a few blocks to the Buenos Aires zoo. We only had about 2 hours at the zoo before we had to get Malaya back to the room for nap. (My plan before our night flight home was to ensure Malaya stayed on schedule with her nap so she would be more likely to go to bed on the flight). As predicted, Malaya loved looking at the animals. She was pointing and babling and cracking us up imitating the animal noises. Hilarious. I tried my best not to appear scared of the animals because I don't want Malaya to have my stupid fears of parrots.

After nap time we took the subway to the biggest mall I could find in Argentina. It was 4 floors of stores, most that I had never heard of. I loved checking out what brands were popular in Argentina, what styles are popular and Mark enjoyed the electronics. They have a lot better products and more selection but the prices are outrageous. A 40 inch sony bravia television is $3000 canadian. A small handheld sony camcorder is over $1000. I picked up a purse which I love.

We took a cab to the airport very early - about 4 hours before our flight. I wanted to be the first person to check in so that I could request to move my seat to the bulkhead and get a basinet. To my surprise there were already people checking in before me. The guy at the luggage check in who I asked about moving to a bulkhead seat and getting a basinet said I would have to ask the flight attendant on board to move. no no no no no. he was not blowing me off and I was not going to get the stupid run around again. I killed him with kindness and explained how that didn't work for me last time and everyone at American Airlines blew me off in the past. He was a very nice guy and spent a lot of time looking into all of our options. After he spoke to the supervisor he told us that Malaya is far too big for a basinet and that it would probably be better if he blocked off a seat in between us (we didn't have to pay extra to buy Malaya her own seat). We were seating in the middle row of 5 seats. Not only did we have 3 of those seats to ourselves but a couple didn't make the flight so we actually had all 5 seats. What a treat that was. Malaya was up past her bedtime and did cry a bit because she couldn't get comfortable in her CARES harness but it really wasn't too bad and didn't last long.

We landed in miami at 3:30 a.m. and I was completely wiped out tired. It was hard to stay awake that day. We had 9 hours in Miami before our afternoon flight left. It was recommended to us at airport information that we take the #7 bus downtown to a large outdoor shopping centre down by the water. Boring. Everything was closed at that hour. We window shopped for a long time and checked out the cruise ships in the harbour. You could tell from the shop windows that everything was overpriced and geared to people taking a cruise. It made me wonder if actually taking a cruise would be expensive and if the ship only stops at 'tourist traps' that pray on tourists and their pocketbook? After a few hours of boredom a lightbulb went off in my head and I remembered the bus on the way downtown went past a K-Mart. I was going through department store withdrawls so we hit the K-Mart. I did some very light shopping but it gave me a pick me up.

Something interesting about Miami that I kind of knew but didn't realize it is to the extent it was is that a lot of people in Miami speak Spanish and nothing else. From the airport to the bus to the staff at K-mart no one spoke english. I asked a staff member at K-Mart a question and she didn't understand a word I was saying. The cashier asked me if I spoke spanish or english and when I replied english she continued to speak to me in Spanish. I think it is way past due for the USA to declare they are officially a bilingual country and provide services in two official languages. It seems like everything everywhere is in english and spanish such as signs at the airport but why not make it official?

Our afternoon flight to chicago was again short but packed. I forgot it is thanksgiving in America this week so everyone is travelling.

We spent about 3-4 hours at the chicago airport before finding out that our flight was cancelled. It was not what I wanted to hear after 2 days of travel and really looking forward to getting home.

We trecked down to the re-booking office at American airlines where I met the fucking bitch from hell who works for AMERICAN AIRLINES. She was extremely rude to me right from the moment she opened her stupid fucking AMERICAN AIRLINES employee mouth. You would think of the two of us I would have been the one on edge but obviously she doesn't like working for AMERICAN AIRLINES. This bitch would not even discuss re-booking my flight to Ottawa until I bought a ticket for Malaya. I told her that I paid $170 (10 % of adult ticket fare) for my 'lapbaby' to fly with me. She asked me to prove it. I showed her my itinerary and record locator number and she said that wasn't proof enough. Um hello...my itinerary clearly says Malaya Condron. What the hell? Then she bitches me out and says I paid $1148 for Mark and $1148 for myself and nothing else. I then told her she was wrong about that because I used my airmiles to buy our tickets and that I paid $170 for Malaya to be my lapbaby and I only paid taxes on my tickets. Then she prints off a so called reciept showing I did pay for the tickets and I was wrong. oh silly me. I thought I got 2 free tickets but ooops, my bad, I did pay $2296 and just didn't realize it since I have sooo much money and 2 grand is something I just would forget I spent. Get serious lady. You should have seen the smug look on her face when she printed out the reciept for me and actually said, 'you see there -you did pay for your tickets"

What was the point of getting into this when I just wanted to rebook my flight to Ottawa. She kept saying to me that I wasn't getting on any plane unless I paid for Malaya's ticket. She asked me for my reciept from airmiles. I told her that I only had my itinerary with me and my e- receipt was in my e-mail. There is no internet access at the airport and I had no way to get her my receipt. It went on like this for a while. After an eternity she realized that I did use my airmiles to get our tickets and that airmiles had in turned paid AMERICAN AIRLINES $1148 per adult ticket to them.

She then called airmiles to talk with them to see if they could confirm to her I bought Malaya a ticket. After more time she says 'oh there it is', she hung up on airmiles and said she found proof that I did already pay for Malaya's ticket. Gee wizz dumbass, I have taken 5 flights with AMERICAN AIRLINES over the past 3 weeks on this same purchase/record locator and all those people at every counter, security check to ensure I have a boarding pass and again at the gate before getting on the flight didn't realize that I was smuggling my child on a plane and that I never actually paid for her ticket. Get a grip.

She then proceeds to badmouth her co-workers at AMERICAN AIRLINES and go on about how they all messed up the tickets and she was going to fix it. She told me that there was no way I would have any more problems with my ticket. As a side note I can tell you that the following day when I did try to use my 'perfect tickets' to get on the plane to Ottawa the first thing I was told is that my tickets were all messed up and the boarding passes needed to be fixed up otherwise TSA would not allow me to board. um hmm. That just validates once again that the bitch is dumb and wrong.

Okay back to the bitch. She rudely told me I would not bet getting my luggage back tonight and she would not provide me with any information on where I could buy diapers for my baby (that may or may not have a ticket). Whatever. Then when I because it would take far too long to find my bags. I asked her about getting a voucher for meals and hotel she ignored me and kept rambling on and on and on about how much hotels cost in the area. I finally got a word in edgewise (even though I knew the stupid dumb bitch heard me the first time...and yes I know stupid dumb bitch is an oxymoron...I meant to say it like that). *sigh* Apparantly AMERICAN AIRLINES does not provide vouchers for weather related cancellations or delays.

I then waited for the shuttle to the hotel with no jacket since it was in my luggage. Even though I was beyond exhausted I had to stay up late sorting my mess out. I could not use a payphone because I had no change and no where to get change. No pay phones have a slot to use a credit card either. I asked the hotel to use the internet so I could at least look up some numbers and save on 411 costs but was told the internet at the hotel costs $12 to start and then .60Cents per minute. I thought that was too much money. I called my mom and asked her to look up numbers for me. I had to call my chiropractor, dentist, massage therapist, work, babysitter and the crown attorney to tell them I would not be back in time for appointments, work and court. My mother got the numbers and even called a few people herself to leave messages. The few calls I did make cost me over $100 to make from my hotel room. Unbelievable. The phone call I made to the office was about a minute...maybe 2, and that cost me over $12. Not the best rate.

After making my calls I headed out to find diapers for Malaya and a few other hygiene items. The taxi to target and back cost me $23 and of course I spent money on clothes, diapers, snacks, water, hygiene items and a bag to put it all in.

Breakfast at the hotel was not free. In the backwoods of Argentina you can get a fantanstic breakfast at a youth hostel but at the crown plaza with marble and waterfalls they cannot afford to give you breakfast. They charge you $15 for that.

I have to tell you the cutbacks everywhere suck. You can't get food on airplanes for free anymore(except long haul international ones), you can't get free breakfast at american hotels, you can't get hotel vouchers when your flight is cancelled either and suprise....you have to pay $25 to check your first bag and $30 to check your second bag.

The following day we were on the 2:30 p.m. flight back to Ottawa since the 8:30 a.m. flight was full. We arrived in Ottawa around 6:30 p.m. (with time change) and our car would not start. Ooops, we left the interior light on for 3 weeks. The airport shuttle driver had a portable battery starter and got us going.

The next morning I was quickly unpacking my backpack looking for Malaya's hat. As I am on my way out to work I discover that one of the bottles of wine I purchased was smashed and wine was everywhere. Great......half my wardrobe in wine stained. Great. Fantastic. Bloodly wonderful. Whatever. Now it almost feels like I have a new bra in a new colour. Don't you love the look of a new bra????

It is good to be back home. I feel very relaxed. Malaya has changed a lot. She has many new teeth, longer hair, is taller, is more sophisticated in her play, can say more new words, has more dance moves and much more. It was great to spend all my time with her for a long 3 week period. It was equally great to spend time with Mark...for the most part.

Thank you so much for reading my blog. I didn't think anyone would care enough to read and I'm pleased to see it has been amusing and well liked.

I'll see you all for the next great adventure.

Adios amigos.

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Comments

[Maureen]

Sad
That there will be no more stories of your trip--they were always a treat and a joy to read. A real bummer about having your precious gift stolen, however you, Mark and Malaya travelled into locations safely and that's what is important. To be treated with such disrespect by our neighbours to the south is cause to get the letter-writing skills sharpened. Good Luck. My friend married a retired Dade Country police officer and he had a home in Miramar. His daugher-in-law is Latin American and only spoke Spanish in the home. Raising the children in Spanish as well. My friend said Florida was not as nice a place as it used to be - there were so many Spanish speaking people who were taking over the state. They moved away - to North Carolina. Travel the world, good and not-so-good no matter where we go, but once home, really home, we are sooooooo lucky to live in such a wonderful country. Welcome home - Oh, too soon to ask where your next adventure will take you??? Thank you, Andrea. xoxoxo