Home

Back home now 4 days. Srule and Esther proved their undying love by coming to fetch me from JFK at the crack of dawn on what happened to also be Christmas Day. I don't know that I could've handled coming home without knowing they'd be waiting with such open, happy arms and eagerness to see me at the other end. And a coat. Ahh right - in NYC, December is quite cold!!

Being here amidst my things and my life, everything feels both comfortably and scarily familiar. It was fun to walk into my apartment and realize with fresh eyes how cozy and full of pretty non-hostel-like character it is! It was also unexpectedly reassuring to discover how naturally like home my home actually felt. As happy as I was to be traveling all of this time without a thought for the things I'd left behind, it was still pretty nice to see them again. Even NYC with its crazy city buzz has felt welcoming to me somehow - this being perhaps a nice perk of returning during the holiday season..?

The scary part of all this warm familiarity is knowing how easy it will be to pick up exactly where I left off - how quickly that "as if I never left" feeling sets in when you return home. It worries me to think that all the things I saw and did during what seemed like such a luxurious stretch of time before I left in early October, will become just part of a nice story I get to tell (to whoever is willing to listen) in a matter of moments. How can 2 1/2 months of life-changing adventure transmogrify into nothing but a blip?!!

And yet I really hope it doesn't. I really hope that this time, having opened myself up through travel in a way I never had before, I will internalize some of what I've learned, about the endless possibility of beauty and my own capacity for wonder. About remembering how to be wide eyed in the world, and the opportunity this affords to rediscover your sense of self and what you have to give, which is really one of the best things about travel, I find ... how it inspires and excites you to want to be your best self.

Or, as the quote from Kent Nerburn more precisely puts it:

“This is why we need to travel. If we don’t offer ourselves to the unknown, our senses dull... The edge is off our experience, and we pass our days in a routine that is both comfortable and limiting. We wake up one day and find that we have lost our dreams in order to protect our days.”

So I come home with the hope that I can keep pursuing that "edge" even as I settle back into a life of routine full of family and friends and a dog that I love. Oh yes, and work. Routine itself is not inherently evil or bad, I just have to find the one that is right for me. This trip has given me renewed enthusiasm for figuring out what that is, and also some clarity as to what that might be. Knowing too that continuing to travel as much as I can in life will be a big part of it. Hey, this blog may very well become a series!

Till then... I wish everyone a happy, full-of-blessings New Year!

Love,
Karen

B.A. nights

So I am happy to report I've been pretty successfully partaking in the famous (notorious?) Buenos Aires nightlife. The hype about it is ALL TRUE, being here makes partying in NYC seem like a soiree. And partying in pesos is amazing! Everything so miraculously affordable it is laughable, the prices for drinks and steaks and taxis and things all divisable by 3.8. So the ticket for the fancy club you thought cost $30 only really costs about $8.

And we've been to quite a few of them, Crobar, Niceto, Club 69, Museo. Tonight it was drum and bass night at Bahrain. I have cumulatively partied more these past 5 days than I did in my 20s. And while it is gratifying to be making up for lost time with so many nights of consecutive clubbing, it also pleases me to know that soon the madness will be over and I can get a good nights sleep again... guiltfree!

Between the crazy nightlife and this Milhouse hostel experience, being here in Buenos Aires has felt like a time warp. I share a room with 5 others, who are travelling from South Africa, Israel, England and even San Francisco. Coming "home" after a day's strolling and sightseeing, I walk into the hostel bar lounge where people are either playing pool, chatting in small groups, checking email and/or drinking an alcoholic beverage of some sort. Going to my "room" consists of lying on my bottom bunk and probably chatting with whoever else is also there about their day and forthcoming plans for the evening. Everyone is open and engaging and has interesting things to say. I have never had an easier time or so much fun meeting new people.

I will greatly miss this aspect of travelling, the openness of others, the stories they have to tell, the ease with which people seem happy and willing to get to know you.

So yeah Buenos Aires has been pretty amazing. There is obviously loads more about it that's been wonderful, the city so beautiful and interesting to absorb. And I've walked everywhere, to the Recoletta, Palermo, San Telmo ... and eaten gelatos and steak (almost) every day... and been to a few tango milongas ... and shopped and gotten my hair done. Slowly checking most everything off my list...

For my last day tomorrow I hope to make it back to Palermo for some more wandering and also to the Recoleta neighborhood to visit the cemetery where Eva Peron is buried. I will probably at some point also eat another gelato, maybe buy a pretty (and highly affordable) dress. I know snow awaits me back home in NYC so I will generally try to make the most of this last full day of summer in Buenos Aires.

Love,
Karen