Three weeks ago I was enjoying a relaxing trip to Pinamar, landing on the shores of La Plata to enjoy mate and cold walks on the beach with friends.

It was the perfect time to reflect on my impending trip home.

Six weeks in Seattle, with visits to San Francisco and Vancouver, BC, after living in Buenos Aires for 18 months.

Wow.

As to be expected, I have been experiencing random, uncontrolable outbursts of the happy dance for weeks, smiling like a perky boluda in a city full of melancholy porteños. I can’t wait to see my friends and family; to eat at my favorite Thai restaurante; to swim in Lake Washington; and in general, to be home.

How my 3 month vacation turned into 18 months of living in Buenos Aires is beyond me. First, I started off traveling (and blogging) before realizing my goal of volunteering with an Argentine NGO (Hábitat para la Humanidad Argentina). This stint was followed by a desperate need for cash and consequently, me stumbling into the internet business.

During my stay in Buenos Aires, I have met amazing people, eaten plenty of delicious steak and learned a bunch of crazy words in Argentine castellano. There have been many ups and downs, as this little adventure of mine has been filled with difficult decisions, a few tears and plenty of times when I just shrugged my shoulders and said “fuck it”. Doing as the Argentines do, I have let myself go with the flow and opened my life to possibilities outside of my control.

The only problem with letting yourself float through life like a piece of algae in the murky currents of el Río de la Plata, is that you sometimes find yourself on the coast of Argentina, very, VERY far from home (like 7,000 miles).

But that’s also kind of the best part, because I never know where I’ll end up next…