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Monday, March 21, 2011

Minding Montevideo with Marisa pt 1


I turned and looked at her one last time as I made my way up the steps of the Pocitos Hostel and as I did,  she flashed a look in her eyes.  It was just for a single moment but a single moment can tell you a thousand things. I had seen that look before multiple times on my first trip.  It was that dreamy look that every mother has in her eyes when she gazes upon the countenance of her baby for the very first time.


I had not seen that look on her face for a very long time since our relationship began. Like all friends, we went through the stage where you meet someone for the first time and you feel excitement and emotions. Then that stage passes and you go through an adjustment period where personalities rub up against each other but there is less of a need for social "niceties" and hopefully your friendship is becoming like a comfortable old shoe. Familiarity is great but a huge part of me missed the excitement, newness, emotions and sensations that accompanied us when we first met.

But that look that momentarily flashed in her eyes was also a flash of hope for me. Could something possibly be reignited in her and I?  Would it be possible to be part of a friendship where we know each other well yet everyday is a wonder with something new on the horizon? My heart began filling to the brim with hope as I she and I parted ways and I slowly made my way up the steps to the hostel.

How strange it feels to have our worlds collide once again here in Montevideo, Uruguay. Due to something being lost in translation, previously I thought the move was temporary until April and then she would come back to Buenos Aires but she's cleared the air and it is understood that the move to Uruguay was permanent. In light of some recent profound revelations in our relationship, my trip to Uruguay was quite timely.  I had been set to go earlier but due to the breakdown of my first computer, I had to spend my cash on a new computer and delay my holiday to Montevideo. But everything happens for a reason and the truth is that if I had gone any earlier than I did, my visit to Uruguay would not have been as special as it was.

My journey began on a the crisp, fresh, Saturday morning of March 12 in Buenos Aires. That day I would steal away from Argentina in my quest for a coveted stamp on my passport that would renew my tourist visa for another 90 days. That entails leaving the country and coming back. Most people go to Colonia, Uruguay for a few hours and come back but this adventure would take me one step further and one ferry ride and one 3 hr bus ride later (in which my busmate was a Uruguayan girl who's dream is to visit Nepal), I found myself on the same soil as my beloved Marisa....

Amorous Alpacas

Amorous Alpacas