Trips of Chaos
My mother had an excited expression as we made our way home from the last day of school. I ask, "What are you so excited about?"
In a suspenseful tone, my mother responds, "It's a surprise."
"What about our house rule that no secrets are allowed? Mhm. That's what I thought!" Kiana interjects, proudly grinning afterward. We chuckle.
"We're going on a month-long trip to South America for summer break! Before you start complaining, Hana is also coming." This is our first trip with a friend, and Kiana and I are squealing with joy. When we get home, Kiana and I call Hana, and we pack matching outfits! We go on a 3-hour drive to the Bay Area and stay at our house for four days, and now it's the day of the flight! Going through security was smooth, and then we started boarding. Unfortunately, Hana and her family are taking a flight an hour after us.
We landed in Fortaleza, Brazil, finally! The hotel was so fancy that they gave us a bracelet instead of a room card to unlock our hotel room! I sleep in the hammocks until I hear Hana waking me up. "Wake up! It's me!!"
We swim, order tons of Shirley Temples, and binge TV shows every day. This loop continues every day for a week, and now we are heading to our next stop, Fernando de Noronha, an island in Pernambuco, Brazil.
This flight was mildly chaotic since we woke up before sunrise and headed to the airport. During the drive, there was probably 45 minutes worth of traffic, and at some point, Kiana, Hana, Omead (Hana's younger brother), and I separated from our parents. The employees called for our names, and we had no idea what our gate number was. We ask an employee using Google Translate, and she tells us that our gate is B27. Thankfully, we were at gate B25, so we ran over and made it in time. The flight was only about 2 or 3 hours, and the flight attendants were very kind!
Our time in Fernando de Noronha was great, even when we used bronzing sunscreen instead of regular sunscreen while on a boat ride and got tanned. During that boat ride, all the kids volunteered to be tied to a rope on the back of the boat, wearing snorkeling gear, to look underwater for most of the ride. We saw multiple exciting things, such as dolphins, turtles, and even a shipwreck! When we got out, our backs were brown, but our other side was pure white! The guys on the boat made us some delicious lunches, with garlic bread and freshly caught fish, along with fruit plates. I would do anything to relive that experience. After the boat ride, we spent all night sandboarding.
It was three days until Hana and my family headed to Rio de Janeiro. Finally! We spent the next three days studying my AOPS math book, which was incredibly dull. Then, it was time to head to Rio. The whole travel group arrived at the airport, and everything regarding the trip there was highly anticlimactic since we had arrived on time and slept for the entire flight.
We arrived in Rio, much colder and way less tropical than anywhere we had gone for this trip. Since everybody was used to the hot weather, we all got heavy goosebumps. All of us children had realized that our families decided to go somewhere without many things to do other than shopping. Since it was 10 in the evening when we arrived, we went straight to the hotel and slept. We woke up early, begging to go to the nearest mall. Our parents were getting massages, so the people at the hotel drove us there and accompanied our shopping trip. We prepared our debit cards for their biggest, bulkiest purchases ever. Omead went to toy stores that sold Pokémon cards, while Hana, Kiana, and I went to Sephora. Omead received nothing; others spent a lot of money, but we only bought seven items!
For dinner, we ate at a very upscale restaurant. It had two Michelin stars and was called Oro. The parents had a meal with lots of courses. We would say, "The molecule restaurant is back at it again," because the portions were so tiny. We said it jokingly, but our parents were a little upset with us for that. We were only stating the facts!
The next day was the same, except we did much more shopping than the other day. When we returned from shopping, we lay on our beds and took a long nap. I don't know how long, but the next thing we knew, we were being woken up for dinner. After dinner, my parents announced that Kiana and I had to wake up at 4 or 5 in the morning because we were going to Cartagena, Colombia, while Hana's family was going to Peru. I was sad, but at least we would see each other soon after the trip. That morning, we drove to the airport. I thought the flight would be successful. Spoiler, we never made it to Colombia! When we checked for the flight, the employee asked to see our Yellow Fever vaccination cards.
"Mom, I don't think we have ever gotten vaccinated for that," I said.
"I'll call your dad just to see if he knows because I don't recall getting vaccinated, either," my mom replied.
So she called my dad, and he said that he didn't think so. This meant that we would not be able to go to Colombia. Due to this, we booked the same flight as Hana's family. We would stay for two days, then go to Miami. Once we landed, it was midnight. We got to the hotel itself at about 1:00 AM. I jumped into my bed and slept immediately. The following day, I went to the breakfast buffet with Kiana, and there was lots of food! It didn't taste the best, but I was hungry. While I was eating some watermelon, I saw Hana and her family! I invited her to sit with me, and we planned the day. Our parents, however, had a different plan for us. "We hired someone to tour us through Lima," Hana's dad said.
"But, dad," Hana complained. "I was planning to explore with Kiana and Diana!"
"Let's just see where he will take us," her dad replied.
The tour wasn't bad at all! We saw some exciting things, the Huaca Pucllana Site, and the Lima Main Square. Somehow, that tour was about 4 hours! We grabbed lunch, which was the best lasagna I had ever eaten. Later, we did some bargaining until dinner. I got a small purse for only 1 dollar USD, and the original price was 10 dollars. We quickly grabbed dinner, and we had some fantastic pasta! I had so much that I fell asleep in the car. The flight to Miami would board at 2 PM. Since I had slept early, I woke up really early as a result. I tried sleeping again, but I couldn't. I decided that I would just text my friends. We went to the breakfast buffet. That day, I had a waffle and mangoes. After we had breakfast, It was time to go to the airport. I was sad that we wouldn't see Hana for a week, but it's only seven days! We got through the airport quickly, but my stepdad would be going back to the Bay Area. We arrived in Miami, and It was time for lunch. We went to a cafe, and Kiana and I shared some avocado toast while my mom had a sandwich and coffee. We also visited two stores that I love; Loveshackfancy, a clothing store, and Glossier, which sells skincare and makeup. After our shopping spree, we got dinner at the hotel and slept.
The following day, we headed to the airport for Costa Rica! Everything was going smoothly until my mom checked the weather in Costa Rica, and there was news of a tropical storm there. It was too late to get off the plane, so we just had to deal with it. There was mild turbulence, and we landed somewhat smoothly. We landed in San Jose, Costa Rica, but we had another flight to get to Papagayo. We waited for my dad to arrive, which he did, but it was half an hour after we landed. Our flight got canceled, so we got a guy to drive us there. It was a long 4-hour drive, but we got snacks and dinner along the way. It started raining heavily, more than it originally was. I could see nothing but rain and trees, and I asked myself how this guy saw the road! Gladly, we got to the hotel safely and slept nicely. The rain acted as some nice white noise!
We stayed for a week, attending a summer camp to learn Spanish. It was great! Each day we'd go swimming or go to a forest and go hiking! We interacted with people, which boosted my Spanish-speaking skills since I had never interacted with people while speaking Spanish publicly. On the sixth day, there was a Fourth of July celebration. There were tons of fireworks, which was the best celebration for this holiday I've ever seen. The following day, we had one last breakfast and took off for the Bay Area. This concluded our trip to South America.
This trip is important to my identity because if there are things I can relate to, it's from this trip! There were so many events, so it was easy to start conversations.
