Mission: Urban

We got back from vacation last night.  It was the longest vacation we’d ever been on, 2 whole consecutive weeks.  After this I don’t think we’ll ever be able to do a vacation for less time.  When we took 1 week vacations back in the States I never real rested: Day 1 would be the travel day, Day 2 and 3 would be settling down resting from travel and convincing yourself to stop worrying about work, Day 4 and 5 would be doing something, Day 6 you start thinking about work again and getting prepared to go back, Day 7 travel day, Day 8 back to work but tired from travel.  I don’t see how we did it…here’s how it worked out for us here for 2 weeks:

Day 1: Travel - Car breaks down, get towed back home.  Buy bus tickets for following morning

Day 2: Travel - Get there, get groceries.

Day 3-4: Settling in - Getting used to surroundings, convincing myself to leave everything back home and to embrace the rest, reading reading and more reading, going to the beach morning and afternoon.

Day 5-12: Resting and Having Fun - It was amazing I actually started to relax and enjoy myself and the family.  The beach was AWESOME!  We took a day trip to “Mundo Marino” a Sea World type place in the area.  The Elledges came down for their vacation in a house next door during the 2nd week so we enjoyed going out with them and playing card games.  I read read and read.  Rich and I would play Bachi on the beach (”Bocho” here in Argentina, but the beach version is played with wooden discs).  It was relaxing and a blast!

Day 13-14: The complexities of real life start settling back in; thoughts of what needed to be done, who needs to be visited, conversations that need to be had, cars that need to be fixed, money that we don’t have, schedule for the coming months, how are we going to get Chi to school now, what to do with the kombi, how can I keep bettering my language skills…these thoughts and anxieties and more start creeping back in and weighing me down.

Evening Day 14: Can’t sleep as I’m preparing to go home.

Day 15: Travel Day - The Dunlevys come for vacation to take over where we left off.  They allow us to use their car to go home (we’ll be back in a few days to celebrate thanksgiving, after which we’ll take the bus back home).  Taking the car is alot easier than taking the bus with all our luggage.  Thank You Nate and Deb!!!  None-the-less the next 2 hours are the some of the most anxiety ridden 2 hours I’ve had.  With the rest we just had in mind and realizing what lies ahead I begin to dread returning to the grind.  We get home, the house is really dirty.  As we enter the house all we hear is crackling as we walk.  Oh, there’s a gazillion dead ants all over the floor…at least they are dead.  Amazingly I get energized, Tara doesn’t.  But, by the end of the night we get settled back in, sit down to watch a movie, and are ready for life to begin again.

So, here I am the day after returning and I feel good, ready to tackle life again with gusto.  I know I would not have been ready if it had only been 1 week, actually I feel like I could have used another (seriously).

The people here call “Vacation” “Quince Dias” (translation 15 days), I now know why.  The actual time period involved is 15 days, not 2 weeks.