Fried/Goodbye

Monday (Last day for me in Lunlunta): Rise 5:33. And practices in the classroom. Sitting: There was a person close to me that coughed more or less non-stop throughout the entire sitting. I kept picturing clouds of virus laden spittle enveloping me. I forgot some parts of my practice due to my distraction.
Breakfast, feeling sleepy and sour. Big Time performed their awesome fast circulation piece. Wow! Not all the performances were this enjoyable. Looking out the window I saw a bird high in a tree. This gave me a feeling of comfort. A little down time, typing up last night's diary from notes. Shower. Helped some of my roommates with Bicycling parts. Realized how much the mid-lead has flown from my fingers.

10 AM, kitchen team for lunch: Juan chief cook. Lentils and fried potatoes (sweet and regular) were the menu. Peeling washing chopping. The frying was a bit of a disaster. We couldn't really get the oil hot enough, so the potatoes fell apart and absorbed too much grease. I tried a slightly different method for the sweet potatoes, but that had the same problem. Taylor began trimming little black spots off all the sweet potato fries. My sleepy/sour state started catching up with me. Juan wisely sent me out to fill water pitchers for a while. Later, more peeling and chopping. They eventually got the oil hot enough on one burner, and while the results were mixed, they were acceptable. Lunch was served on time.

1 PM lunch. After eating, let people know I was leaving. I had been contemplating whether I should announce my departure or not. On the one hand, drawing attention to my leaving might reinforce the feeling of the nearing of the course's end. On the other, I didn't want to "sneak out the back door" or leave people wondering what had happened to me. A gentle pat on the shoulder by a friend told me I had made the right decision.

Kitchen clean up, done by around 2:30. Getting the bits of fried potato off the big metal pot, and the strainer was a challenge. Had to walk to the other end of the facility to get a mop bucket.

A little guitar practice in the garden, then packing. Not so much to pack. Around 3:30 wheeled my stuff to the front door. More guitar practice.

4 PM: Tea. Zum played a lovely sentimental Classical piece. Don't know who by, or the name... But it's mood, and the sun streaming through the windows, and love of the community I was in brought tears to my eyes. MB and some of her Level 2-mates played a fun piece that combined two moods. Around 4:23, Peter came in and said the taxi was there. I dashed out, opened the gate, loaded my bags, gave a final kiss to MB, and was off.

On the drive to the airport, got another look at this part of Argentina. Beautiful vistas, and poverty. We drove behind some migrant works... perhaps a family or two. I found it hard to meet their gaze. What could I offer them? How could I relate to them? I had overheard a conversation between Billy and Juan a night or two ago, about how many factories and business were abandoned during the financial crisis of 2001. Often, the workers took the abandoned facility over, and formed a cooperative employee owned businesses. There is a sense that Argentina is a country in the process of reinventing itself.

At the airport, they couldn't print my boarding passes except for the flight to Santiago. I couldn't get to the gate area right away, so, wandered around. Then, I waited in line for the gate for a long time only to be told that I needed to pay "Airport tax." So, did that, then waited in line again. So sleepy waiting for my flight, I basically blacked out twice. But got on, no problem.

The flight to Santiago Chile was uneventful and brief. Couldn't see much of the Andes, since it was a night flight. Made my transfer in Santiago, and confirmed that they had my preference for vegetarian meals noted. Getting settled on the plane, two different families tried to rearrange the seat assignments so they could be near their children. I switched from an aisle seat to a window seat to help one father out. The flight to Miami left on time. They didn't have any idea that I wanted vegetarian food, but they were able to cobble something together. Quite good actually. Slept soundly for at least 4.5 hours.