So I'm currently in a town called Comodoro Rivadavia, on the coastline of Argentina. It's past 1am, and I'm sitting in a nice 4-star hotel.

I did not intend to be here.

Our plane from Ushuaia (the bottom of Argentina) back to Buenos Aires had to make an emergency landing in Comodoro due to unspecified technical issues. The plane kept descending as we headed towards the coast; apparently one of the passengers sitting by the back door happened to be a military pilot and noticed a hissing sound coming from the door, and realized that the cabin was probably losing air pressure (hence the descent).

In any case, the airline told us they would be fixing the plane, then told us that we would fly out of Comodoro tomorrow at noon, and so we all got vouchers for hotel rooms for the night. Ours is particularly nice!

After the plane landed safely I stopped being worried -- now, this is just an amusing detour and a good story to tell.

Here's to hoping I make it to Buenos Aires tomorrow! ♥ Buenas noches.

I spent my entire day looking at this, and variations of it!
It was awesome.

( mini photo dump from my trip so far )

Our original flight from SFO to DC to Buenos Aires got cancelled, so my mom and I finally made it to Buenos Aires by way of SFO --> Toronto --> Sao Paulo --> Buenos Aires. The whole trip took a little more than 30 hours, but we finally made it! And made it in time to catch the plane to Patagonia, which is where I am now.

Argentina is lovely - Buenos Aires reminds me of Taiwan, but with taller, more attractive people, who all speak Spanish. And the food is to die for. El Calafate is surprisingly windy, but the glaciers are amazing. I'm going to be spending Christmas Day tomorrow minitrekking, which is apparently walking along the glacier! I'm excited. :D

It doesn't feel like Christmas at all, but as long as I ignore that it's not so weird. I miss my dad and brother though, and I wish we were all together for Christmas (they decided to stay back in California). Still, tomorrow should be fun, and after that we fly to Ushuaia, which is the southernmost tip of Argentina, and as close as you can get to Antarctica without actually being there. There are penguins!!!

I hope you all enjoy the holidays, wherever you are in the world :)

If I'm lucky, I passed, probably by the graces of everyone else knowing less than me. But at least for the next month, I am FREEEEEEEEEEE.

Now, heading home tonight, and then off to Argentina in three days!