What door?

  Sometimes you get to a house after a five hour bus ride at five a.m. These are the mornings you wake up after a four hour "nap" and have no idea where you are....the confusion continued:

    Our house parents had to go to work so we went down for breakfast and encountered three doors. We literally had zero idea which one held our breakfast. Therefore, we game-showed our way and listened for sounds of clinking dishes from Teia-the housekeeper. We were afraid we would walk in on a bedroom or sleeping human. There was no other choice but to open the door and move forwards. Insert metaphor here....

   Truth: we were not supposed to take pictures but I snuck this one of Pam spelling out Rotary and the prehistoric toad for my Dad. He loves toads and frogs and should know there are more than 6,000 species of amphibians in the world.

   Rotary Club Ciudadadela took us to lunch and then introduced us to one of their projects. They helped to equip a mainstream school with the necessary software and computers for the blind and visually impaired.

Muchisima Gracias

Flying over somewhere in Florida now. About to touch base in Atlanta within the hour. One long trip through customs then a hop, skip, and a jump back to Roanoke. 

Ready to be home after this long flight. 

On our flight from Tucuman to Buenas Aires, we had more turbulence than I've ever experienced in my life. I actually came all the way out of my seat and hit the ceiling of the plane at one point. As did many others. It was an extremely scary experience, but we made it through alright. I continued to pray to make it through alive. I guess someone was listening. 

Many thanks to all who made this experience a reality.  I thought that it would be appropriate to post on our team blog one final time an thank my team as well as everyone in Argentina who treated us so well. 

What an incredible experience, and what amazing things rotary is doing around the  globe. I cannot wait to tell my friends and family all about it, as well as local Rotarians. 

Here's to many more bright days ahead for us all, and I hope this isn't Adios, just more like Hasta Pronto. 

Ciao Argentina. 

Final Thoughts

Thank you to EVERYONE who supported not only me, but our entire team throughout our journey.  Without your love, support, and prayers, we would not have been able to make this trip as seamless as it was!  I will always cherish my memories and time spent in Argentina.  Hopefully one day we will meet again!

Thank you to Oakley for being an awesome trip leader.  Without your bilingual skills, I am pretty sure we would have had to deal with very angry men on a bus and we never would have known how the reverse osmosis operation works!  I know that you are not only an inspiration to just me, but to the entire team!  Four months ago you told us some news that frightened us all, but I am so thankful you were able to embark on our journey with us!  Thank you for EVERYTHING.

To my teammates - without you, I would have gone nuts some days:
Stuart - Well... Without your care, concern, and the little bit of sarcasm that you bring to the team, I don't think we would have made it.  I loved watching you grow and to see the passion you had when speaking about those things that are most important to you!  As Forrest Gump would say, "That's all I have to say about that."

Joe - I really appreciated all of our talks about life, family, and our experiences.  Thank you for all of your care and concern - and for the best birthday present a girl could ask for!!  I admire you for being able to say goodbye to your family for a month to embarke on such an incredible journey.  I also appreciate your love for Empanadas!

Bekah - My experience would not have been the same without you!  We have shared many laughs and some tears along the way.  We had some tough decisions to make at certain times and I felt we collectively did a good job - who got the body pillow?  Which door leads to breakfast?  You are a wonderful person and a true friend!  I look forward to continue following your journey in life.

Of course I have to give thanks to my family and friends!  Without you in my life, I wouldn't be the person I am today.  I cannot wait to get home and share my experiences with you :)

5/27/13 with the District Governor, Juan Carlos Rodriguez 

Tucuman

Well, our time here is just about over.  We ended our team voyage in Tucuman at the district conference.  It was great seeing all the lovely faces of the great people we met along our way.  While Esperanza seems SO long ago, it only seems like yesterday that we were meeting our team for the first time.  The Group Study Exchange program is a wonderful program.  We were able to experience things most others never will have the opportunity to experience.  Staying with host families really helped us get to know the people of Argentina and experience Rotary and all the great things that they do.  It was great to catch up with everyone and to see our counterparts, Ana, Lili, Laura, Flor, and Ezekiel!!

One of my favorite Rotary projects was a project of a club in San Miguel, Tucuman.  The club worked with a school to create a lab for the blind and visually impaired.  We spent over an hour in the small room talking with Rotarians, various teachers, and a former student, Alberto, who is blind and now helps out and also does some of his college course work in the room. The room is named after Anne Sullivan.  Stuart, Oakley, and Alberto talked about music and sang quite a few different tunes.

Such a gorgeous view!!

This was the first time I saw this many bottles come out for an asado.  

Tucuman

Words from Oakley....
Today was a very relaxed day. The final conference activities ended by 11am. At 12pm, Dr. Carlos Sardo picked us up for an afternoon in the country. He and his wife, Sulema, have a 6 hectare place about 20 kilometers north west of the city. (Carlos and Sulema are Pam and Bekah's host family. His grandfather came here from Lebanon. ) They have had it about ten years. It was abandoned, overgrown land and they have cleared it and built a lovely small house and a two-sided shelter that houses the asado (barbecue) oven, bathroom, and storage. They also have a small swimming pool with a fountain. All of it is up on a hill with a beautiful view. We had asado for lunch with about 30 people, mostly family from Sulema's father's side. Good asado, after lunch drinks including an Arabian style annisette, two desserts and coffee. Then a nap in the sun. The air was fresh and the setting relatively tranquil and very comfortable. Carlos and Sulema go there on weekends in the winter. She is becoming a Rotarian and he probably will do so also.
Carlos is a medical doctor and has a private practice, teaches, works a few days in the public hospital, and also at a pre-paid clinic. The highest number of births per population in South America is in San Miguel de Tucuman. In 2001, it was so extreme that there were three women to every bed. The state was contracting with all the private clinics and still it was three women for every bed. They have finally built a new hospital, it opens next month.
After clearing the land, Carlos planted 1,000 plum trees. Somebody came at night and pulled them all out. They were able to find out who did it and got 500 back and replanted them, but the stress was too much and only seven are still alive. Now Carlos has lent the land to a friend of his who plants it in soybeans and keeps the brush under control. They also have been experimenting with other kinds of fruit trees, but the winter to summer temperature extremes are too much for most of what they have tried.
On the way back we passed through lemon groves. The Tucuman province is the largest producer of lemons in the country (maybe in the world?) and they export to many countries. The area also grows sugar cane and cranberries. We passed a large salt mine, La Salina. This mineral deposit of salt is mined and refined right there and supplies most of the salt in Argentina.
We were back in the city by 8pm and most of the group was able to get a good night's sleep.

The Mountain of Seven Colors & Humahuaca