Shawn and I were a little worried about spending the holidays without family this year, but it ended up being one of the best Christmas' ever. We were in Bogota, about to take another overnight bus ride - on our way to visiting a couple of supposedly awesome places.
We couldn't have cared less. WE WERE EXHAUSTED.
So... when we longingly searched for plane tickets from Bogota to Minneapolis for that same day, and the tickets were reasonable, -- because we were spent, and because it was Christmas -- we decided to actually look into the possibility of going home. We called about the plane tickets that we had already purchased (Cartegena to Panama and Panama to FL) and when we found out that we could get a refund on one and change the other-- we did it! For a surprisingly low out-of-pocket amount, that night we headed for the airport instead of the bus station.
It worked out perfectly that my best friend, Tausha, was down in Minneapolis and would be heading up north around the same time we were flying in and could give us a ride home. Without a hitch (well... besides Shawn being taken away and interrogated at the Houston airport...) we were welcomed back to the States by two of my best friends around 24 hrs after making the decision to come home.
My poor mother... She hates surprises. Unfortunately for her, I absolutely LOVE them!! She thought she was going to get away with not really dealing with Christmas this year. The only decoration she put up was a Charlie Brown tree with a couple of branches that only had one ornament.
When we got to Park Rapids we found out she was going to be out of the house for a couple of hours - so Shawn had the great idea of sneaking in and putting up the Christmas tree! The funniest part was that when she came home, it took her about 10 minutes to see the tree. Shawn even decided to brush his teeth while waiting for her to notice it. I will never forget her face, though, when we came running out. Her priceless expression was complete incomprehension. She thought I was a clone of myself, "because the real Steph was in South America and there was no way she could actually be standing in front of me." No comprende!! It was awesome.
We had a wonderful Christmas Eve with my family. On Christmas Day it was time to drive down to Iowa to surprise Shawn's family! We even stopped on the way to surprise Shawn's grandparents in Mason City. Thankfully Grandma kept the secret and we made it to Cedar Rapids to surprise Shawn's parents! We had a wonderful time in Iowa staying with Shawn's family until January 4th. It was also great to reunite with our baby girl (dog), Molly! We then flew down to Miami to meet my parents, keeping the plans we made for when we were originally supposed to come back to the States.
Our last full day in Florida is tomorrow. We have had a great time! We spent a couple days in Miami and then headed to Key Largo and Key West. In Key West we were determined to visit Ernest Hemingway's house, go to the southern most point in the continental U.S., and also go to "The Original Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville". From the Keys we headed up to my parent's rental home in Venice, FL. On Sunday we'll be flying back to Minnesota and back to reality! It's definitely been a transition and I've had plenty of culturally shocking moments, but we're glad we're home. I do have a bit more to tell you about our time in Colombia, though!
After Salento we went to Bogota and met up with Shawn's Aunt Mary's significant other's brother! We had a fabulous time with Chris and ended up staying with him for a week when we originally only planned on being in Bogota for a couple nights. We were planning on getting LASIK surgery in Medellin, but when Chris said, "Why not just get it done in Bogota and stay with me?" It didn't take us long to jump on that offer.
Now, I honestly cannot tell you what I was thinking. "Eye things" are my biggest fear. If anyone attempts to get near my eyes I freak out. I have exasperated eye doctors to the point of them practically kicking me out of their office. So, when Shawn said, "I'm getting LASIK done in Colombia because it's cheap", why I thought I could join that bandwagon is besides me, other than it was such a great deal ($600 for both eyes!)!
Getting LASIK done in Colombia was definitely the most traumatic experience of my life. Even Shawn said it was really freaky, and he doesn't easily freak. There's no medicine involved to calm your nerves, like in the U.S. They did give us tea, though! Awesome. Even though they numb your eye and you can't feel much, I will always describe it as complete and utter painless torture.
When they walked me in and laid me down I immediately started having a panic attack. When the doctor started coming at my eye with a sharp looking metal thing, I lost it. They held me down and just kept repeating, "Tranquila! Tranquila!" ("Be calm!"). Ya right.
After several attempts and my panic and hyperventilating worsening, I screamed, "HABLA INGLES!?!?" ("DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH!"). After a dramatic pause, an angel/doctor came from the dark corner of the room and calmly said, "Yes, I speak English. Don't worry. You're going to be fine, but you have to stop hyperventilating or you're going to faint. If you would like, I can tell you step by step what the doctor is doing during the procedure. You also have to stop squirming around because if you keeping moving, the surgery will go very bad."
I can't even put into words the relief that I felt. I know, for sure, that I wouldn't have been able to go through with the surgery unless that angel had shown up. Even though she was there and was telling me step by step what the doctor was doing, I still almost fainted and still had to be held down. I came out of that room completely drenched in sweat and uncontrollably shaking for quite some time. I am so glad I got through it, though, and can see with supposedly 20/20 vision. Other than our surgeries, our time in Bogota was spent going to follow-up appointments, visiting Chris' weekend home (the yacht club!), some hiking, cooking, and really enjoying our time with Chris and hearing all of his amazing stories from (what I refer to as) his 9 lives.
I really wanted to blog and at least give this update, but there's a lot more we want to share. Life has been nuts since we stepped foot back in the U.S. and it has been hard to find the time to blog. If life gets in the way and we don't end up writing another post, we want to say thanks for following along on our journey. We've been so blessed to have had a dream realized and we hope the same for you!
We couldn't have cared less. WE WERE EXHAUSTED.
So... when we longingly searched for plane tickets from Bogota to Minneapolis for that same day, and the tickets were reasonable, -- because we were spent, and because it was Christmas -- we decided to actually look into the possibility of going home. We called about the plane tickets that we had already purchased (Cartegena to Panama and Panama to FL) and when we found out that we could get a refund on one and change the other-- we did it! For a surprisingly low out-of-pocket amount, that night we headed for the airport instead of the bus station.
It worked out perfectly that my best friend, Tausha, was down in Minneapolis and would be heading up north around the same time we were flying in and could give us a ride home. Without a hitch (well... besides Shawn being taken away and interrogated at the Houston airport...) we were welcomed back to the States by two of my best friends around 24 hrs after making the decision to come home.
My poor mother... She hates surprises. Unfortunately for her, I absolutely LOVE them!! She thought she was going to get away with not really dealing with Christmas this year. The only decoration she put up was a Charlie Brown tree with a couple of branches that only had one ornament.
When we got to Park Rapids we found out she was going to be out of the house for a couple of hours - so Shawn had the great idea of sneaking in and putting up the Christmas tree! The funniest part was that when she came home, it took her about 10 minutes to see the tree. Shawn even decided to brush his teeth while waiting for her to notice it. I will never forget her face, though, when we came running out. Her priceless expression was complete incomprehension. She thought I was a clone of myself, "because the real Steph was in South America and there was no way she could actually be standing in front of me." No comprende!! It was awesome.
We had a wonderful Christmas Eve with my family. On Christmas Day it was time to drive down to Iowa to surprise Shawn's family! We even stopped on the way to surprise Shawn's grandparents in Mason City. Thankfully Grandma kept the secret and we made it to Cedar Rapids to surprise Shawn's parents! We had a wonderful time in Iowa staying with Shawn's family until January 4th. It was also great to reunite with our baby girl (dog), Molly! We then flew down to Miami to meet my parents, keeping the plans we made for when we were originally supposed to come back to the States.
Our last full day in Florida is tomorrow. We have had a great time! We spent a couple days in Miami and then headed to Key Largo and Key West. In Key West we were determined to visit Ernest Hemingway's house, go to the southern most point in the continental U.S., and also go to "The Original Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville". From the Keys we headed up to my parent's rental home in Venice, FL. On Sunday we'll be flying back to Minnesota and back to reality! It's definitely been a transition and I've had plenty of culturally shocking moments, but we're glad we're home. I do have a bit more to tell you about our time in Colombia, though!
After Salento we went to Bogota and met up with Shawn's Aunt Mary's significant other's brother! We had a fabulous time with Chris and ended up staying with him for a week when we originally only planned on being in Bogota for a couple nights. We were planning on getting LASIK surgery in Medellin, but when Chris said, "Why not just get it done in Bogota and stay with me?" It didn't take us long to jump on that offer.
Now, I honestly cannot tell you what I was thinking. "Eye things" are my biggest fear. If anyone attempts to get near my eyes I freak out. I have exasperated eye doctors to the point of them practically kicking me out of their office. So, when Shawn said, "I'm getting LASIK done in Colombia because it's cheap", why I thought I could join that bandwagon is besides me, other than it was such a great deal ($600 for both eyes!)!
Getting LASIK done in Colombia was definitely the most traumatic experience of my life. Even Shawn said it was really freaky, and he doesn't easily freak. There's no medicine involved to calm your nerves, like in the U.S. They did give us tea, though! Awesome. Even though they numb your eye and you can't feel much, I will always describe it as complete and utter painless torture.
When they walked me in and laid me down I immediately started having a panic attack. When the doctor started coming at my eye with a sharp looking metal thing, I lost it. They held me down and just kept repeating, "Tranquila! Tranquila!" ("Be calm!"). Ya right.
After several attempts and my panic and hyperventilating worsening, I screamed, "HABLA INGLES!?!?" ("DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH!"). After a dramatic pause, an angel/doctor came from the dark corner of the room and calmly said, "Yes, I speak English. Don't worry. You're going to be fine, but you have to stop hyperventilating or you're going to faint. If you would like, I can tell you step by step what the doctor is doing during the procedure. You also have to stop squirming around because if you keeping moving, the surgery will go very bad."
I can't even put into words the relief that I felt. I know, for sure, that I wouldn't have been able to go through with the surgery unless that angel had shown up. Even though she was there and was telling me step by step what the doctor was doing, I still almost fainted and still had to be held down. I came out of that room completely drenched in sweat and uncontrollably shaking for quite some time. I am so glad I got through it, though, and can see with supposedly 20/20 vision. Other than our surgeries, our time in Bogota was spent going to follow-up appointments, visiting Chris' weekend home (the yacht club!), some hiking, cooking, and really enjoying our time with Chris and hearing all of his amazing stories from (what I refer to as) his 9 lives.
I really wanted to blog and at least give this update, but there's a lot more we want to share. Life has been nuts since we stepped foot back in the U.S. and it has been hard to find the time to blog. If life gets in the way and we don't end up writing another post, we want to say thanks for following along on our journey. We've been so blessed to have had a dream realized and we hope the same for you!
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