I've arrived!

I am writing you from the lovely home of my host family, safe and sound in Juventino Rosas, Guanajuato. I had some fun adventures on my trip--at 5am I went through security in RDU and there was a problem--I had a "moving violation" which evidently means I have too much liquid. Even though I'd tried to prevent this by checking the American Airline's website and looking at the restrictions, I evidently didn't read carefully enough, because it's not "whatever fits into a quart-sized plastic bag" but rather a specific amount per bottle, as long as all the bottles in total fit ino the quart-sized plastic bag. Lame. So they took away my face wash, toothpaste and moisturizer. I don't know if it was that it was so early, or I was just emotional that ANYTHING would go wrong, but I started crying and explained to the poor security guard that I was going to Mexico for 2 months and had packed extras but didn't think they'd be enough...then I apologized for crying, saying maybe it was that I was traveling alone internationally for the first time. I also had to go pour out my water. Of course they didn't have a recepticle there though, I had to go back to the bathrooms, up stairs by the ticket check-in. Awesome. The security guard told me he's look for me when I came back through...and I found out what that meant--after going through the security again (and this time making it out with only the swabbing of my computer for bomb-making chemicals), he handed me a quart-sized bag with my precious toiletries and quietly said, "Merry Christmas." I was so elated I told him I loved him and thank you so much and quickly walked away toward my gate. He seriously made my day.

The beautiful bag that made my day:


I thought that would be enough excitement. I was wrong. I flew to Dallas-Fort Worth and that flight was fine...whatever. I get there and take the fun little Skylink tram to my terminal and I arrive with almost 2 hours time to just hang out and eat something. As I got off the tram, I had this weird feeling like I was missing something important...but I couldn't quite figure out what it was. And I had to pee really badly. So I found a bathroom and as I washed my hands, searched non-chalantly for my passport and boarding pass..........that I'd left on the Skylink. 7:51, my flight leaves at 9:40. I talked to a police officer and he called the Skylink offfce...they looked for it and couldn't find it. Which is when I started freaking out. I had a nice little chat with the police officer though...his wife is Mexican American (though he looks way Texan) and he's been to Spain with her as his translater. Sweet guy. Finally we went to the gate, which wasn't open yet because I still had so much time. The attendant at the gate next to us told me that I just needed to wait though because someone would turn it in and bring it to the gate and that I had plenty of time before my flight left. I went to get some food and when I came back--magic! Second miracle of the day! They had my passport.

So there you go--people are good. That's how my day went. Or my conclusion from it. The second flight was a bit more difficult--smaller and there was an obnoxiously screaming baby. Not so fun when you woke up at 3am. But now I am here and I venture on (yeah, that was meant to be cheesy). Until later--
Shannon