quinta-feira, 18 de outubro de 2012

Journey to Utopia: Day One

So, the  day before traveling I was packing and some interesting things happened. I would have to get to the airport at 5h30 because my flight would be at 6h55. The buses would not be working then. Should I call a taxi? My roommate Steve offered me a ride. I didn't want to accept because he was working till 2 and would have to wake up at 8 to go to work again. I thought it was asking too much.

Also, there was a party to go. It was going to be my first party in a house. And the guys who were organizing the party were some of the most friendly I had met here. There was no way I could not go. So I borrowed Steven's bike and rode 20 minutes to get to the party. Even though I tried to go slow and it was downhill, I got there drenched in sweat. I chained the bike to a tree and when I was getting in someone told me I was supposed to pay one or two dollars. I had not predicted that and had only my ID and credit card on me. One of the guys who knew me recognized me and gave me a cup and said I didn't have to pay for that.
The party was already crowded. I looked for my friends and they were already having a lot of fun. Even people I didn't think I would see there was around. The music was crazy, people were having a good time and the police came twice. Just a regular university party. When it was about two, and even without saying goodbye, I left to ride back home. It was much more difficult to go back because it was uphill. I managed and got home, took a shower and got a few hours' sleep.



When it was 5h30 I heard Steven's alarm as well as mine. I got dressed and grabbed something to eat. He drove me there and I could not have words to thank him for doing that. It was still dark.

Going through security was piece of cake. The flights had no delay and I barely saw anything as I was very tired. The only thing I was very curious about was that the captain said we were going over the Everglades before reaching Miami. So I wanted to take a look at that because I had no idea if I would ever go south anytime soon. And I woke up just in time to have some images of the swamps.


Nothing interesting happened at Miami airport. Some Brazilians, a lot of Jewish people and boarding the next plane was just all right. The only problem with this next flight was that a family sat on the row behind mine and the girls had annoying voices and they kept whining all the time. It was nerve-wrecking. I could sleep anyway but a middle-aged couple that was sitting by me was not taking it so nicely. The woman started complaining about the girls, we engaged in conversation and she gave me a lot of hints on things I should do in Toronto. They were coming back from an excursion to Peru and we talked about Latin America.

As I got to the airport, I had to eat something. I looked and looked for places to eat and the food court was hidden in the back of the airport. I decided to eat a kebab, which was too expensive for what the served. I expected more, so I should have stuck to whatever was known to me. I had some hours to wait for Dale to be ready so I looked for a plug and connected to the internet.
Before I realized it was already time to go to the bus stop to get the bus to Newmarket. I exchanged some money, got the bus and went to the terminal.


After waiting some five minutes Dale arrived. I was expecting he was going to be in crutches but he was not. I was so excited and thinking that was a kind of historical moment, the first meeting after years we had been online friends. However, he is practical and down-to-earth and it was nothing magical or impressive about our rendez-vous. It was funny.
So we got a bus and went to his house. He told me about the places we were going by. He was very authentic and witty, an observant person. I knew then we would get along well.

At his house he introduced to his mother Edna. She was a talkative and friendly person . We sat there, talked about many many topics. I showed him some of the material I had got at the airport and we decided what we would visit the following days.

After a yummy dinner, we went upstairs and watched a movie. Well, at least a part of it. Dale never forgave me for asking him to stop the movie when it was not even halfway through.

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