* Sorry pictures are not clear, I lost my camera and had to use the one on my smartphone
After few days of feeling unease about going back into the real life, I started to accept my next life phase and I felt ready to go back to go meet my old friends in Quebec and back to a temporary life that will eventually lead me to the laid back life I have decided for myself in the next few months.
The past few months have been extraordinary of the best and happiest times in my life, it reminded me of the time when I visited Quebec City and when I decided to move there.
The last couple of weeks have been amazing. I was so glad to make a stop in Mexico. Although I didn’t get to see much, I would have needed more time to discover this great and big country, it’s has so many treasures not only in its architecture, natural beauty and rich history but also in its beautiful culture and its amazing people.
Latin culture is so beautiful, especially the Latin American culture, I enjoyed this trip so much and I learned a lot from it. Mexico and Colombia were I enjoyed myself so much, I liked the people how they like to socialize, very helpful and not to mention the music and the food which I enjoyed in every country I visited.
My last stop in Mexico was Monterrey in northeast Mexico, it’s another nice place that I enjoyed while staying in Mexico and again mainly because of the amazing people I met, but it’s time to go back.
I went to the bus terminal in Monterrey, Mexico to cross the border to the US. After few minutes of boarding the bus I felt the atmosphere was subdued. Throughout my travel in Latin America, whenever I took the bus I would hear noise of people talking, laughing and not to forget the music playing. But on this everyone is calm and no music. Usually they divide the buses that are headed to the US based on the legal status of the passengers, if the passengers require a visa to enter the US they will board a different bus than the ones who do not require any processing, in order to speed the border crossing for all the passengers. |On the bus I was in, the passengers were either Americans of Latin decent or legal residents of the US from Mexico. I guess that explains a little, most of these people have lived in the US for few years and the US usually people are quiet and the majority avoid conversation with the passengers next to them, I don’t consider that bad it’s only different.
Later at the border, as usual, from all the people on the bus I was asked to accompany the officer because he wanted to run further check. He was friendly and after he checked with others on the computer he gave me the ok to go ahead. I was lucky I didn’t miss the bus otherwise I had to wait for the next bus from the same company and I don’t know how long would have taken for it to come by.
We arrived at the bus company’s office in Austin, TX at 4:30AM. I thought it would be close to downtown but we were far from downtown and more close to the airport. I didn’t have any reservation for accommodation or reservation for another trip, because I wanted to wait to till I arrive in Austin to decide whether to spend the night there or take another trip either by bus or by plane, part of the reason I did that I wasn’t sure how much we would be delayed at the border which could have jeopardize my travel plans. And now that we’re here next to the airport further from any hostels, it became clear I have to make some plans. The wifi was not working at the bus station so I waited till sunrise and started to look for a McDonalds or Starbucks. I started to look for McDonalds and asked 4-5 persons, first 2 of them they spoke only Spanish and one of them who knew told me it’s only 1 mile. Anyway after almost a little of more than hour of walking I was able to find a McDonalds, the US is known as place that you really need a car to find what you want, most cities are spread out, and although there are public buses, sometimes they are not frequent and the only one who knows their frequency are the bus riders, and if you’re lucky you will meet someone on the street. I only saw one person walking and he was way ahead of me, no because it’s early in the morning, but most Americans cities are structures and built around the car industry. I felt the people I asked on the streets were inpatient and felt as if I am disturbing them, when I greeted a couple of them they didn’t respond.
While I was at McDonalds, I didn’t like the atmosphere, people seemed to be inpatient, I would greet people and they wouldn’t respond even the cashier. I heard the person behind me mentioning a lot of bad words, so I changed my table because I didn’t feel very comfortable, I then the people in front of me, two young adults were also using bad language. Anyhow I came to McDonalds to book a hostel or find the trip back to Quebec. I found online a trip to Quebec same day in the afternoon and it doesn’t cost much difference than the bus trip on the bus but I get there faster. I went ahead and booked the flight.
I then asked the lady who was cleaning at the McDonalds and she also spoke little English and I asked her if she likes it here and she said yes and then she said she also wants to go back, and then added, people who are there want to come to the US and the ones who now live in the US want to go back. I guess it always looks greener on the other side. I asked if she could tell me how to go to the airport and if it’s possible to walk over there. She said yeah it’s like 20 minutes at the end of the road.
I started to walk and then I asked a man who was fixing his car beside the road and he said the airport is far, about 8 or 10 miles and I need to take a bus or a taxi.
I finally found the bus and headed to the airport, when I went to check-in, I found that the flight will arrive at 11AM next day which wasn’t clear when I bought the ticket and now they want $600 to change the flight, and I had to stick to the original ticket. I finally arrived in Philadelphia around midnight, I asked the security if I can spend the night at the terminal and she said yes. I thought it wouldn’t make sense to pay for a night at the hotel for only 6-7 hours of sleep especially that my situation is a little tight at this point.
I was the only passenger in that area, all the passengers left the terminal, great I have the whole airport to myself 🙂 Of course there were the security and the cleaning staff, and there’s free Wi-Fi, great, it’s better than the Sheraton 🙂 I started browsing the net for about an hour and then I laid down on the seats and I remember Tom Hanks in the movie “The Terminal”, but I felt in better situation, I slept for about 3 hours and then I started to see some passengers coming to the terminal. It wasn’t comfortable but it was better than nothing.
Around 8AM, I started to feel I am almost in Quebec when I heard the first and most common word in Quebec “Hostie” 🙂 it’s not a good word but people in Quebec use it very often to the point that you don’t think of it as a bad word. It’s funny how now I think of this word in a funny way but I wasn’t feeling the same when hearing bad language at McDonalds just the day before. May be it’s also the way Quebecois express themselves with this word, they say it when they’re happy, when they’re upset and everything in between 🙂
In conclusion, this won’t be my first conclusion about Latin America, I am planning to go back. The past few months have been an amazing time of my life, I danced and listened to Latin music more than ever (salsa, cumbia, and others) and still I can’t tell the difference between these types of music 🙂 and I am still a bad dancer 🙂 I ate lots of different types of fresh fruits and vegetables and ate more Mango and Aguacate (which’s known as Avocado outside Latin America) more than any time in my life. I am so blessed to have taken on this amazing trip, and thanks to all the people I met throughout this trip who taught me so much about their culture, about themselves and seeing myself in their eyes has taught me great deal about myself.
