Yes, yes, we are a week or two early. We flew on Delta Buddy Passes (aka Standby) thanks to some close and generous friends. We had been looking at the flights for when we were planning to leave and the flights for this past week, just to see our chances of getting out. We found something interesting. The flights were going out with all Standbys getting on the flight and still having tons of open spots. Our original flight was looking okay, but not that great. It was backing up to some Embargo Dates. Embargo Dates are used in areas where Delta ships out a lot of cargo back to the States. Chile is a huge exporter of goods, especially during Autumn. We learned that between the earthquake and the lull before the large Autumn export, everyone was getting on board.

We made a pretty rush decision (like some many of our decisions) to try to make it out this week. In fact, we picked the Thursday night flight out of Santiago which had 97 open seats. Yes, that is a 9 followed by a 7. You hardly ever see that flying Standby. Most of the time on Standby if you see 15 open seats and you’re in the top ten on the waiting list, you’re feeling okay about the flight. The flights next week started tapering off as Delta started taking on more cargo and more regular traffic started coming back on line.

I won’t go into the details of the travel cause it was a lot of sitting on a bus or plane between periods of hurryupand…wait. We took the plunge and started packing and saying our goodbyes. We got on the overnight bus from Puerto Montt to Santiago. Got into Santiago and spent the afternoon with some new friends, Sandor and Nancy, and had a fantastic time. We all met up with Tom (one of the WWOOFers we met on the Campo) at the bus station before we left for the airport. Had a few beers and got a recording of a song about our favorite pig (more to come on that). Got on a plane from Santiago to Atlanta and then barely got on one from Atlanta to Chattanooga. Whew!

And now we’re Home.

We love having the creature comforts we missed living in the Campo. Hot running water, HVAC system, dishwasher, washing machine and dryer, full bodied hoppy beer, not cooking on a wood burning stove, pushing a button to brew coffee, etc. But there are tons of things that I am going to miss.

I miss the Gringo Stare.

I miss being able to have a full conversation with someone knowing that the people around you have no clue what you’re talking about, which includes politely weaving an string of insulting curse words that would make a sailor blush to a vendor that I knew… know… nearly doubled the price ’cause I was a gringo (but I’m totally over it I promise).

I miss the stripped down life that we had for three months.

I miss the view from our house.

I miss being able to get almost anywhere on a bus for almost nothing.

I miss the Campo and all the people who live there and pass through. Scott, Lisa, their children, Nancy and Sandor and Marcela,  Don Ramon, Jorge, Vicente and Margot, Sergio, and of course all the WWOOFers (the Bumblee Bees, Tom, Caitlin, Megan, Rosie, Gus, and Francie(?)). It truly is such a special place and we already miss it terribly.

The one thing that I’m going to miss most of all is my family. In particular the amount of free, open, and simple time that we’ve been able to spend together. I worked maybe 20-25 hours a week so that left a lot of time to spend with Graham, Bennett, and Berry and all of that without the TV, cell phones, play dates, video games, school friends coming over, going over the school friends, meetings, constant email checking, and a myriad of other day to day distractions that we have living Stateside. I can not tell you how wonderful that was and how much good it did for our relationship as a family, as father and son, as father and daughter, and as husband and wife. Words really can’t even begin to describe it.

Now we are back Stateside and trying to incorporate ourselves back into society. We’re still adjusting and I have a feeling it will take some time to find our new niche. Thank you all for the kind words and thoughts on our little adventure. Thank you to all the friends we’ve met along the way. Thank you to Scott and Lisa for opening up your home and sharing your little slice of Chilean life.

Hasta pronto.