On the road again...

Stepping off the plane with a still painted face, teary eyes, a lot of bags, and a cloudy mind... I found myself on the street in Shell, Ecuador looking for my friend, Rafael (remember the bartender from the lodge).
How was it that the cars and trucks were SO loud and that they were passing so quickly? Who are all these people and why are they staring at me? Where do I go? Do I have any money on me? Where is Rafa's telephone number and where is a phone?
Since when did I become more comfortable with a painted face, feather earrings, a simple lunch of platanos and rice, and all of my Achuar friends, than I did traveling (like I love to do) in a "normal" city???
I was so overwhelmed by everything that was going on around me, but I eventually managed to cross the street in the rain with all my stuff and just plopped down in the kapawi office. The two guys working there said "you must be Kate." I said yes and they said "we have heard wonderful things about you and that everyone wanted you to stay. Please just relax and take a deep breath... Rafa said he is going to come meet you."
Now, I like to think that I am independent, I'm strong, I can find a solution in any situation, I can conquer feelings with logic... but on this day at this moment... I wanted nothing more than Rafa to show up and take care of everything and just tell me where to go to eat and to sleep. He did just that. After about a half hour, there he was in the doorway, a friendly face, with an ice cream bar in hand, and with a simple "Hi friend, how are you doing?" I almost started to cry and gave him the biggest hug ever. He jumped right in and started repacking my pininks (or ceramic bowls in newpaper and a box (so as to be able to pack them in my bag... here's to hoping and praying at least a few of them make it back to the states intact)! Then he waved a taxi and we were on our way to Puyo (the nearest city) he had a friend who owned a hostel and got me a cheap room where after we grabbed some lunch, I just took a shower and then slept for about three hours. After the going away bash until 3:30 am the night before, the emotional exhaustion of saying "see you later" to everyone, and the daunting task of planning my voyage out of Ecuador before my visa expires and making it to Lima on time to meet the folks, lying in front of me... I was beat.
After I woke up, Rafa and I met up cause he wanted to show me his city. It was great to just get to talk to someone who understood about Kapawi, about the reverse culture shock, about the sadness I was feeling. We talked and ate and talked some more over a feew beers. It was great to have the freedom to eat when and what I wanted, to be at a bar again, to be walking around city streets again, but at that moment... I would have given it all up to be back with my friends, my life, that I had come to know and love in Kapawi... with all its ups and downs... I would have gone back there in that very moment if it had been possible. I know I'm being dramatic, I know you're probably thinking, come on Kate it was only three months... BUT it was a life altering, unforgetable, forever in my heart experience thanks to the deep friendships I made with people who are so different and yet strangely similar to myself.
As the paint starts to wear off my face, and the mosiquito bites stop itching, and the Amazonian music stops playing constantly in my head... I'm losing day by day a little of my Achuar identity. I find myself adapting again to traveling, to being alone, to meeting new people, to enjoying the activities and food that there is to offer, but I know I will never go back to the person I was before. I know that life is that way, it's supposed to be, if our experiences didn't change us and help us grow... where would we be? All I can think now is how grateful I am to God for providing me the opportunity to grow in this way and for allowing the Achuar people to open their homes and their hearts to a simple girl from the midwest, who didn't even have a clue what Chicha was!

I'm currently in Cuenca, Ecuador, after enjoying a few short days mountain biking the gorgeous landscape of Baños to see not one, not two, not three, not four, but FIVE absolutely gorgeous waterfalls. I will be here until sometime tomorrow midday and then it's off on the longest bus journey of my life to make the trip to meet my parents in Lima, Peru.
Thank you all for all of your thoughts and prayers. Continue to think and pray for all of my friends in Kapawi and the surrounding communities.
Love, Kate (AKA: Awarmas, my Achuar name)