Our Last Days: July 26th-28th

     It was finally all coming to an end. It had felt like we had both been there for a long time but also not been there for a long time. I know I probably could have stayed another week or two. I was excited to go home and see my family but I didn't want the adventure to end.

My room in Oaxaca that I knew I was going to miss, and I do.

     Friday we had our last reflection seminar with Dr. G. Afterwards instead of going home for comida, we had a big celebration at SURCO. All of our moms were invited and brought food. SURCO hired a musical group to come and perform for us. It was a really great time, but also a little sad. During our reflection seminar earlier in the day we had talked about the transition to going back home and how we could get reverse culture shock. It was a time we got to reminisce about what we were going to miss and how we could cope with it. It was nice to see that we were all feeling the same way and that we would be able to use each other as resources for when we returned home if we were missing Oaxaca.
     At our comida we tried to forget that we were heading home in 2 days and enjoy the time we had left together.

     We had some delicious food and enjoyed the music. We hung out for a little bit after simply because we did not want to leave SURCO since that was our last time there. Before we headed out we took pictures.

Mercedes got us roses.

Moms, most of us, Dr. G, and our SURCO family all together for the last time.

     We said our goodbyes to everyone and headed out to the markets to do some last minute shopping at the mercados. We walked around for about 4 hours trying to find all of the gifts we wanted to get. It was almost surreal to be walking around the center and the markets for the last time on the trip. We headed home to relax, start to pack, and rest up for our last full night there.
     Saturday we just hung around and packed. Mercedes took us girls to see Tule, the largest tree in the world which was only 25 minutes away from us. We checked out the town of Tule and had lunch there. She wanted to treat us on our last day and it was really sweet. Once we got home we were all packed and ready for the next morning and didn't know what to do so we walked into town and around the markets again for one last time, it was like we couldn't take ourselves away from there. That night Mercedes gave us little alebrijes as gifts and we all gave her our gifts we had for her. We had to be up really early the next morning to get to the airport so we figured we'd stay up as late as we could to spend time with each other because we could sleep on the airplane the next day.
     Sunday morning came and we were up early. Mercedes made us breakfast and packed us sandwiches for us to take with us. It was still dark out when the van picked us up at 6:15am to take us to the airport. We put our bags in the van and said our goodbyes. I was not able to leave 108 Yagul without tears, it was like I was leaving my home. Mercedes told us we were always welcome there. She was such a sweat woman and a great mother.
     We all got to the airport and made it home to the states, however not without tons of delays and rain. It was cheesy but we said that all the rain was Oaxaca's tears sad to see us leave and all of our flight delays were a sign we should have stayed.

All together for one last time in the airport.

As hard as it was to leave Oaxaca and my trip of a lifetime, I knew that it wasn't a goodbye, it was a see ya later Oaxaca.
- Lindsay