My Welcome Home

I got back to Loja yesterday after three weeks of Chile, and a couple days of delayed flights in Quito. The rest of my trip in Chile was ah-mazing. I took a three day ferry and saw streches of uninhabitated fjors, beautiful views of southern hemisphere constellations, and lots of water. I did more hiking, and visited a small vineyard. The natural beauty was incredible, the people were amazingly fun, and the Chilean wine flowed freely. Insert more generic positive adjectives here.

Anyway, so I was on the bus yesterday, and it was a bit crowded. I had just paid my bus fare, and put the change into my front pocket. The man next to me tried to squeeze past me and exit the bus, but he was really staying a lot closer to me than the crowded bus necessitated. I felt his finger reach into my front pocket, and I pushed him away from me a bit roughly. He stumbled backward, and the $10 bill from my pocket fell out of his hand. I gave him a look that said "Seriously? What the hell is wrong with you?" whereupon he proceeded to pick the money up, politely hand it back to me, and exit the bus. His face was completely expressionless; I didn't even get a sheepish, oops I got caught, or sorry I'm a jackass look.

So that was my bienvenida to Loja. It definitely feels like I'm home.