First impressions

Don't worry, this one is shorter...
I felt very strange leaving Ecuador this morning. I was very, very sad to go but didn’t want to pass too much time feeling depressed because I thought that in that case I would lose precious moments with my host family. At the same time, I was kind of mad at myself that I didn’t cry a lot. I hope my family knows how much I love them and will miss them. Taking off in the plane was really hard. I will miss the Pinchinchas and the architecture in general every morning. I was crying while the plane took off and there was a Canadian guy sitting next to me who I am pretty sure thought I was insane. Landing in Miami, however was even harder. I was not prepared for the monotony of the landscape. All the houses were rectangular with orangy-red tiled roofs and arranged in neat nested squares around very fake-looking ponds. There were no mountains. There was no diversity in the landscape. I was completely unprepared however for the Miami airport. Everyone and thing seemed to be moving so fast. Everyone was speaking in English and the officials, although they did not carry machine guns, were even more scary as they shouted curt orders. There is no way to be polite in English like there is in Spanish. It simply isn’t possible.
Ironically, I guess my own culture will take some getting used to again. It is nice to be back in my house and see my mom, brother, dog and fish again.