This is a photo taken at the local graveyard just outside the little town of Las Lahas.  The yard is surrounded by cattle fields on all sides, with one road leading in, and picturesque in all directions.

Last evening I finally booked our flight home.  We’ll be traveling United Airways, through Houston.  It turns out a return ticket is much less than double the price of one way, so “for a few dollars more”…

Now, I find myself thinking of all the things waiting for us at home.  Clean sheets and a comfortable bed, clean clothes, water pressure, uninterrupted power, a couch, coffee maker, the coolness of a Canadian spring, long sunsets in the summer, toilet paper, hot/cold water, reliable internet, running vehicles and the ability to work on them when they’re not, the ability to cook a decent meal, Alberta beef, friends and fellowship, people who keep their word….  negative Celcius temperatures, photo radar, traffic lights, cops/bylaw enforcement everywhere, low gas prices, bills, yard maintenance, mail “service”, high food prices, local “news”, and a basement to evaluate and repair.

We’ve also been going over the highlights of our trip, such as the Anachoreo up in Santa Fe over Christmas, our New Years day on the river in Torio, the Panama Canal, El Valle de Anton and the sendero out back, long drives up into the mountains around Vulcan, Cerro Punta, and Guadalupe, snorkeling Isla Coiba, the falls up at La Yeguada, the week at Boca Brava (in spite of the restaurant), and the day I got my driving papers in David to make it possible.

Neither of us will realize just how this trip has changed us until we are back home looking in the mirror of familiarity.   After months here, accustomed to the challenges every day may bring, we’ve learned to accept a lot of things we took for granted, and been immersed in the culture long enough to find islands of contempt — the essence of familiarity.   Life here is certainly different, but exactly what has been most remarkable will only surface once we return.

Perhaps, the tan.