For Al (Yes, You)

Dear Diary, It´s been quite some time since I´ve written.

Isn´t that how every single journal entry you started as a child went? No commitment to writing, just a whim. I swear, diary, I´m going to write every day from now on. We´re still best friends, aren´t we, diary?

Oh, boy...

Well, I am back in Buenos Aires. To very briefly sum up the last couple of weeks:

1. I spent five amazing days in the jungle in Peru. Lots of creepy crawlies and humid air and muddy jungle walks. We saw monkeys and spiders and flowers and birds and frogs. It was wild. Literally! And, as I was joking with the rest of the group about how I was expecting someone to walk out of the kitchen with a birthday cake with my name on it, someone walked out of the kitchen with a beautiful chocolate cake that read, "Happy Day Hellen". Unbelievable! They also served us all a free Pisco Sour. Que amable.

2. Two days after returning from the jungle, we boarded the first of four buses that would eventually take us back to Buenos Aires. We left Cusco on a Friday around 2:30 PM, arriving in Tacna, Peru around 7:30 AM on Saturday. (This, by the way, was quite possibly the most miserable bus ride of my entire life. The bus was ICE cold. No heat whatsoever. And we had no blankets or anything. And there were irritating Peruvians piled up in the stairway and the aisles, so I had to crawl over them all to get to the baño. We thought we´d booked with a good company, but it turns out that silly company sold us a bus ticket for another, much shittier company. Why? That REALLY ticked me off and made me feel many not so nice things about the country of Peru. Good thing I was on my way out.) We then crossed the border into Chile and killed the entire day in Arica, Chile, waiting for the next night bus. By Sunday evening, we had made it to Salta, Argentina. (After a ridiculous three hour layover in some little town that began at 5 AM. What do you do when the bus just dumps you out in a town you don´t know at 5 AM? You take a cab to the Esso TigerMart, apparently, where you drink coffees and eat hame and cheeses and play I SPY WITH MY LITTLE EYE and watch the sun come up.) We finally took a night in a hostel in Salta, and then Monday afternoon, we were back on another overnight bus, delivering us to Buenos Aires by 9 AM Tuesday morning. Yowsers. That´s travel for you.

3. What am I doing in Buenos Aires? Well, a few things. First, I came to escort my traveling companion to the airport. Bjorn left for Sweden yesterday morning, and well, it´s not the same without him. That´s all I´ll say, Diary. Let´s not get personal. Second, I am doing a month-long TEFL certification program, starting TODAY! TEFL is Teaching of English as a Foreign Language, and the certification is required by most English language schools around the world. So, no, I am not planning to come home anytime soon, at least not for a permanent stay. But, who knows. My dear mother says I don´t have to plan the rest of my life, just the next six months or so. Well, I´ve got June planned. Maybe in a couple weeks I´ll figure out July. Uncertainty has a certain beauty to it, don´t you think?

That is all for tonight, Diary. I am sleepy, and I need an ice cream bar. I´m not sure about our future, Diary. I´m trying to stay loyal to you, but my head is distracted and I haven´t felt like writing much lately. Perhaps the new program will give me some new fodder for you. I hope so.

Much love to you all.