I sure do!
Towards the end of May this year (2015) , I kept thinking, "I really want to go to Argentina this year." I didn't have a chance to go last year as I was unemployed from teaching. Funny to think about it, but I'm unemployed YET AGAIN from teaching.
Anyways...I digress.
I wanted to go to Argentina this year. As you've read from my other posts, "I Heart Argentina". Yep. I sure do.
The problem with this year's trip wasn't the lack of time. I MAKE time for things I want to do. Nor was it really the lack of money. Since getting an elementary teaching job last year, I had managed to save some cash and pay off some bills, which was FANTASTIC! My problem was that since it was close to the end of the school year for me, and this school happens to run only on annual contracts, I didn't want to put a trip on my credit card without a way to pay it off JUST IN CASE I managed to NOT get a renewal on my contract.
I decided I was going to be financially savvy for once and wait.
HA!
Yeah. Right.
I looked at flights on Kayak and Skyscanner. There was one flight, round trip from Miami to Ezeiza International (Argentina's main international airport) for $590! I can't even fly home DOMESTICALLY to Kansas City for $590! I passed on that one because there was a lay over somewhere in Bolivia and I don't want to be by myself in Bolivia, especially when I don't really know the country.
I kept looking and looking. Several friends in Argentina kept asking, "When are you coming to visit?" I continued to tell them, "I need to wait until I get confirmation about my teaching contract for next year".
Well, the principal took her sweet time to inform me that I was not having my contract renewed. She told me during post-planning that it wasn't being renewed. I had to pack up my classroom and make 7 trips home and back to drop off my stuff. In fact, there were only two teachers whose contracts were not renewed, including my own. I find that a personal vendetta. I don't think the principal liked me. That's okay. She had this idea that the students would be fluent in Spanish by the end of the year.
Well...let me tell you...I've been teaching for 8 years. There is no way that over 500 students will be fluent in Spanish when they've only had 30 minutes of instruction a day (give or take about 10 minutes because they need time to settle down, or I need to travel to their classrooms since there's some ridiculous "law" that students from Kindergarten to 2nd grade are not allowed to climb the stairs in school). 30 minutes a day for one week. Some weeks were cut short due to testing or to holidays cutting into the week. Then, I wouldn't see them again for another 5 or 6 weeks, depending on the grade level. Some classes I only saw a total of 6 weeks out of the year.
I'm sorry, but I hate to break it to you - unless you are living in a foreign country where you are thrust into the environment or even if I were speaking only in Spanish the entire time in class, there is no way that someone is going to learn how to speak Spanish with such unrealistic time allowances and constraints. Bitch, please...Whatever...ONWARD to bigger and better things, baby!
So I bought my ticket anyways.
I'm headstrong and very impractical at times. Especially when it has to do with travel. If I have an opportunity to travel and I haven't met my credit limit, I buy myself a ticket!
I was set to travel June 14-June 29th.
After booking my airfare, which turned out to be $1054 US, including tax, I realized, I should have booked it a day later and returned a day later because it would be an actual pay day the 15th and the 30th. On top of that, I bought the ticket pretty much last minute because I was so antsy about going.
I asked my cousin if I could park my car at her apartment in Miami for two weeks and she said absolutely!
My trip turned out to be a very interesting mix of events, so to say.
I left Jacksonville for Miami on Friday afternoon. Ran a series of errands. Met with a few people. On the way there, I was so excited because I was going to listen to my music in my car. Stopped off at Starbucks. Ordered a Venti Soy Chai at 8:30 p.m. and drank the entire thing in less than an hour. Got to Miami later than I expected, at around 10 p.m..
My cars speakers sounded as if there were marbles rolling around in them. They also had that staticky quality about them. Not cool.
Ana told me, 'Park in the visitors spot when you get here". I arrived and there were none available. So I parked in the closest available spot. I even had a Resident Raccoon greet me upon my arrival! He was foraging for food in the dumpsters.
I told Ana what I had done and she said, "Well, I've never seen them tow anyone, but you should be fine."
We stayed up late, talked all night and went to sleep at around 2 a.m..
I slept for about an hour or two. I was paranoid that someone might see the suitcases hanging out in my back seat, break my windows and want to take them! I kept waking up, looking out the window. Nothing appeared amiss. I saw the Renmobile, just hanging out expectantly waiting for our next adventure. I went back to bed, stalked some people on Facebook. Tried to sleep. Kept tossing and turning. Couldn't sleep.
Finally, 7 a.m. rolls around. I decided that I needed to take a shower and get my travel clothes ready. I also saw a visitors spot open and decided I was going to park my car in that spot.
I grabbed my keys, went outside, down the apartment stairs, out to my car and lo and behold...this is what I was greeted with...
Seriously?! Are you seriously kidding me right now?
There was a tag on my window that said prompt removal of the boot would occur when I called and gave the company $89 either in cash or credit. Begrudgingly, I run back up to my cousin's apartment, grab my phone, go back outside,
"Hello?" That groggy voice that people make when they first arise from slumber.
"Yeah, hi. Good morning. I just came out to my car and I see this sticker on my window and a boot on my tire. I'm going out of the country today and I need to move my car. Can someone please help me remove this?" I asked.
"That will be $89 including tax," said the male voice on the other line. "I'll be there in 10 minutes."
"Is there any way we can reduce the price? I just lost my job this week and money is kind of tight," I asked. I mean, I also had dollars in cash that I needed to exchange on my way to Argentina so that I'd have some money to spend when I got there, like for food and stuff.
"Yeah..." said the man reluctantly. "I'll see what I can do. I might be able to drop it."
The man arrived within five minutes and took the boot off the car.
"That'll be $89."
Um...I was told that it could be less. I explained my sob story again to the dude. He was willing to drop it to $59. Thirty dollars isn't a bad discount. At least I got to save some money. I'm willing to admit the fact that I parked in a wrong spot. I'm okay with paying for my transgressions.
I told him that I had a credit card and he shook his head. "I forgot my credit card reader".
I rolled my eyes and said that I would have to go back and get the little cash I had left inside. I raced up the stairs again, opened the door, stomped around cursing my luck, found the cash and then raced outside again.
I handed the man sixty bucks and told him to keep the change. He went on his merry way and I quickly moved my car to a visitors spot before another boot was immediately slapped on my car.
All of this occurred before 7:30 in the morning. As you see above, I did put it on social media.
Hee hee.
By this time, with all the noise I was making cursing out loud and slamming doors, Ana was already awake.
"Renny...what happened?" She asked as she rubbed her eyes open.
I told her what had happened
"Ay Dios mio!" She exclaimed. I had no idea they would do that, she said.
Let's go ahead and get going to my job, she said.
We take showers, get dressed, and get going to her job, which is in downtown Miami, neak Brickell. On the way there, we stop off at this Cuban café of sorts, where they have pastelitos and cortaditos. For those of you who don't know, cortaditos are small little cups of Cuban coffee. They're more like espresso, but with NOS infused in them. You want energy? You drink a cortadito.
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| Just right for Barbie! |
Most Cubans, about 98% of them, will drink cortaditos with milk and sugar. I love coffee and I especially love drinking "café con leche". However, in the last few years, I have developed a serious intestinal aversion to milk. I cannot consume milk, cream or ice cream without having major intestinal issues, a.k.a GAS. Though I can eat cheese without a problem, for some strange reason. Hmmm...I don't know. Weird
Ana and I each get a cortadito and I totally forgot to tell them to not put milk in it. I eat my pastelito and drink my NOS coffee and immediately, I feel like I am flying into outer space.
Actually, flying into outer space is a total lie, but I sure felt like it the way my pulse was raging.
...to be continued...see part two coming soon!
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