2nd Impressions *sorry no pictures yet

I find myself in a bittersweet mood for the second time in Bogota. The first time I was grieving leaving home, missing friends and family but excited to go adventuring in South America. This time I find myself excited to go home, but grieving the adventures and more specifically the people Ive met and grown close to while traveling. I go home in about a week and the adjustment to this reality hit me really strongly today when I said goodbye to my companion of the last few months.

The familiar streets and sights of Bogota remind me of when I first got here. I think back on that time now and realize how different my perspective of this place has become. When I first got to Colombia *and South America,  my head was filled with the places I imagined I would go. I had ideas of what things would look like, what troubles I would face and what awesome things I might behold... but those fantasies have been replaced with the reality of those places. Lists of towns all checked off, and now so much of it feels familar even comforting.  I can recall and describe neighborhoods and the special differences between countries. Returning to them would be easy, and without anxiety.  But when I first got here 6 months ago I was full of fear, anxious about the people, the smells, the foods, conversations... I had only my imagination and the descriptions I had heard from others and those descriptions weren't always comforting. 

I was walking through the old town and central Bogota, a place that Ive been reminded I should be on guard. But it feels comforting to see the old places I'd visited before. Now the streets are filled with holiday lights and the costumes of the street performers have changed to christmas themes, but its just a nice spin on a familiar thing. Likewise the restaurants I avoided because I couldn't read the menu- now are revealed. The places remind me of different experiences... seeing dunkin donuts reminds me of my binge in Trujillo, Peru where I went 3 days in a row and eventually got really sick. The indigenous faces remind me of the months I spent in the Andes region, so different from the last few in Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. 

But its also a bit difficult to be excited now. I have 5 full days left in Colombia and a very strong sense of lonliness.  I'm headed home for the holidays, but don't really know what to do next.