Am I Going to be OK Here??

I am finally in Montevideo, Uruguay. I{ve been thinking, talking, and more about it now for almost a year now. Here I am (with a sigh of relief)....

Today I arrived via Miami, after an hour and a half delay in Miami in which I was sitting next to some very friendly Mexicans. I realized at this point that my Spanish will have to take a leaping jump, and will, into fluency with multiple people surrounding me.

So as the plane descended to the airport I realized my situation - potentially no ride from the airport, no place to stay, and not too much of an idea on where the airport was versus the city. I am a planner, can you tell? But strangely, something told me everything would just work out. And as the plane flew over lush green farmland that immediately turned into a sprawling little city next to the ocean into an aiport with no other planes leaving, arriving, or moving around I knew it. This was my place.

OK, the fact that the ground crew was very cute (5 girls all dressed in the neon orange vest) helped me come to this conclusion as well.

Speaking more with my Mexican friend at the baggage claim, who turned out to be a neurologist from Mexico City, I realized that my Spanish is much better, it just needed a few gringo jolts. That was relieving to say the least. OK, now onto figuring out how not to get jacked for a small fortune by the taxi man because of my Gringo-ness.

As I walked out of the terminal area, a crowd of people awaited their loved ones or people they were hired to drive. My mind was thinking along the lines of how nice that would be. Then I saw the smile...hey, I think I recognize that...then the wave...then it hit me - my facebook now reality friend, Kaira, had come to the airport on time to pick me up. But not only this, she had to come back to the airport because my plane was so delayed. Such a sweetheart. Thanks Kaira.

We spoke the whole way into town about this and that, passing a FDR national park (what?), and within an hour I had my apartment hooked up. Sure, I did some pre-leg work to get this done, but it wouldn{t have happened without some really nice people. Thanks Uruguay. I look forward to getting to know you more....