Keagan’s World

It happened. Something went wrong.

Okay maybe I’m being a tad dramatic; I didn’t wake up in a ditch with an unknown tattoo or anything like that… yet. But if all went as planned I’d be enjoying one of the 7 natural world wonders right now on the border of Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay: Las Cataratas de Iguazú.

Instead I’m on hour 5 in a crowded terminal full of other cranky travelers who had woken up early expecting to be quickly whisked away on a picturesque trip or, worse yet, a connecting flight to Brazil (worse because they probably missed their second flight not because Brazil isn’t awesome so don’t kill me my Brazilian friends).

Me? I’d been gearing up all week, practicing the concept of Carpe Diem w/ care to ensure I could make the most of this glorious weekend. I turned down plans for the club last night and opted to head to bed as other friends went to party away la madrugada and say goodnight to the sunrise.

I woke up bright and early to pack, bop to some reggaeton, and pick up an overpriced morning tostado y cafe. Whole lotta Cloud 9 stuff ya know? 

The vibes were good. Until they weren’t.

The moment I stepped into the airport: “guys our flight got delayed.” 

And then it got delayed again. 

And again.

The worst part is they didn’t even have an ETA for our plane each time because, well, they didn’t have a plane lol. The plane we were supposed to take had been removed from usage for the day due to maintenance concerns. The question was then not what time our flight would leave but IF our flight would leave…

Uh oh.

But then, amidst the quilombo, Buenos Aires did its Buenos Aires thing: we met new friends. Or more accurately, Margo, the only person I know who loves talking to people more than me (I know crazy to believe), found three Americans our age while poking around to figure out what was going on.

Same trip. Same amount of time in Argentina. And, crazy, fellow Chicago transplants (yeah I know technically I’m not there yet chill).

Maybe it’s a bit too early to call us friends since we’ve known each other for all of like 40 minutes but like they seem cool! The truth is relationships grow at light speed when traveling no matter who you’re with or where it is. A stranger to you today is your best friend tomorrow. It’s kinda crazy actually. Something about the commonality amongst people drawn to drop their lives and see the world. So cool. An extrovert’s dream.

But if our flight hadn’t been delayed, we probably would’ve never met each other. Just like if my school had been able to find a host family willing to provide meals I wouldn’t have met by amazing host mom, Moni. 

Small setbacks —> Huge gains

If you’re willing to roll with the punches and do your best to turn lemons into lemonade, travel problems can turn into travel opportunities. And let’s be honest, when you’re blessed to be seeing the world, very few travel “problems” are actually that. They’re just inconveniences. That’s why I’m not panicking right now after realizing my ID is missing (NOT passport) as of like an hour ago.

Okay, admittedly THAT could be an actual problem, but I’m gonna wait a little longer before I start calling it that.

Anyways, I gotta go cause I’m on the plane now, and we’re almost to Iguazú – oh yeah they ended up finding us a plane… SURPRISE!

Time to go make up for lost time!

Hasta luego 🫡

*Disclaimer: I wrote this well before the time of posting