Memoir Draft

One of my greatest memories is visiting my father in South America. I recently went last winter break, it was the first time that my sisters and I had flown to South America by ourselves. The Miami airport was so hectic, that everyone was scrambling to get to their gate in time. We hugged our mom and step dad goodbye and got on the plane. I was so nervous because my Spanish is not that great, and I would have trouble translating everything in Spanish.
I instantly knew we were going somewhere different than the States, the flight attendants uniform were bright teals and purple and everyone was speaking Spanish on the plane. When the flight attendant announced all the information she announced it in English then Spanish as I flipped through the manual with all the safety procedures, I have heard a thousand times. We finally got to our connecting flight in Bolivia after a grueling sleepless night aboard with no air. As we were landing in Bolivia the flight attendant announced everything in Spanish then English. Instead of hearing “ladies and gentlemen” I heard “damas y caballeros.” It was as if the closer I got to my destination the more I was getting enveloped into this new culture. After boarding from Bolivia everything was said in Spanish, I had officially had left everything I knew and was going into this totally different culture from my own. When we finally landed in our destination Asuncion, Paraguay I could not wait to see my dad. He was there waiting for us with bear hugs and these fizzy waters that tasted like alka -seltzer. Also with him was my grandmother from the states who was also visiting, my step mother and her youngest son from a previous marriage. My dad looked the same as before just with a little more salt than pepper in his hair and the fine lines around his face. Considering that I only see my father once a year, we were both more than happy to see each other again.
When I was younger we had a strained relationship after my parents divorced, but as I aged into my older teens I realized I needed to have a relationship with my dad. That was why I was back again, back to the country my dad was from, to reconnect our relationship. As we all walked out, the first thing that hit me was the heat. It was so warm and humid there, Florida could not compare to this. Next was all the sounds, there are a ridiculous amount of cars in Paraguay, so I heard all the beeps and sirens. It’s as if the streets had their own language composed of screeches, horns, and noise.
The next two weeks were a blur of sun, water, markets, and parties, since it was the first time I had spent Christmas and New Years Eve somewhere other than my house. I stayed at my dad’s house most of the time, so my usual day was waking up in the later afternoon and eating breakfast with my sisters. Now in Paraguay people don’t really eat cereal for breakfast, so every morning I would drink a cup of steaming hot Toddy, which is basically hot chocolate and baked bread that just melted in your mouth. After breakfast I would go swimming with my sisters and step brother. This was the only way to take refuge from the heat, since barely anyone has centralized air conditioning there, in our room there was only a fan. By this time my dad would get home from his job as the Secretary of Agriculture for the government of Paraguay. In Spanish countries everyone usually takes a siesta which is an afternoon nap, now I have always disliked naps since I can never fall asleep. I would never take one and instead go on the computer or explore around. While I was there I experienced so many new things. One thing that was bizarre was that Burger King and McDonalds delivered to your house, you would just text them and a hot juicy burger would be there in ten minutes. They also serve beer at the mall food court and give you actual metal utensils to eat your meal.
My favorite day I spent there was going to downtown and just shopping through the largest street market I have ever seen. All around you were different merchants selling anything from clothes to electronics and souvenirs. Now as everyone knows if the sellers know you’re tourists the prices go up so my step mother would negotiate prices while I quietly looked at the products. This was where the native Indians were also selling there hand sewn clothes and jewelry. While I was at Paraguay I met a lot of extended family and got to go to many parties where we ate dinner at night time, one time even midnight. I had so much fun meeting all my relatives and trying to communicate with them using Spanish. They always helped with my pronunciation and smiled when I said something wrong. We would sing, eat, and dance all day and enjoy each others company.
On one of the last days we went to my dad’s farm in el campo or the low populated areas. I got to see all the farm land with its green grass and the mountains in the horizon. The scenery was breath taking, you could smell the fresh air not polluted by modern day machines. I got to have hands on experience and milk a cow and feed the goats. I also saw a lot of poverty since outside the beautiful city, Paraguay is still a poverty stricken country. It made me appreciate everything that I had at home ten times more. While I was there it seemed as time stood still, I barely looked at the time and everyday just seemed to continue with no end.
As my last day was drawing near I could hardly believe I had already been here a week and a half. Even though I was excited to go back home and see my family and friends there, I was sad to have to leave the ones in Paraguay. On the last night that I was there my dad had a barbeque to invite everyone over to say goodbye to us before we left. As I was getting ready in our room, I thought back to when I had come to Paraguay as an early child. Then I had almost hated coming to South America where I had to learn my Spanish again and be away from my mom and friends. I thought why do I have to see my dad, when my dad was the one that left me so many years ago. This time was the complete opposite I couldn’t imagine not coming back to this amazing place, not seeing my dad or family. The dinner was the perfect last night, as I tearfully said goodbye to everyone and went to bed for my early flight. The next morning was surreal, I couldn’t believe that my time to leave had come so quickly. When it came to saying goodbye to my dad and my step mother I got so emotional and could not say anything but hug them goodbye. My dad called out “I love you” as I walked past security and I called it back, which I had not done until then for a while. Once on the flight the flight attendant started in only Spanish as before, then Spanish to English in Bolivia, and English to Spanish when we finally landed in Miami. I was back to what was familiar, back to the language and culture I knew. My mom and Step dad were there waiting for us and everything was back to normal. This trip had rebuilt my relationship with my dad, and showed me a different culture I had forgotten and am so glad that I decided to go with my sisters.