Departing from Fort Collins

Well, we left Fort Collins. The last month in town was a bit of a blur, and despite all of the good times we spent with friends up until the end, it hardly describes the time that Kellen and I spent there. Really, it's hard to believe that it's over. We'll be back, but there's no telling for how long or even exactly when at this point, so we did our best during our last couple of months in town to spend some good time with friends, plan our trip, and tie up all that needed to be done at school and work.
A relaxing afternoon at the Boulder Tea House with my brother and sister and law Dan and Kati was a much need day-vacation from all the writing and planning that swallowed up January and February without me even realizing it. (Sorry you didn't make the photo, Kate!)




I finally finished up my Master's degree after a great 2 1/2 years at Colorado State University right before taking off to South America, I don't think there could've been stronger motivation...or pressure...but it's great to go on a trip having finished off a big project and feeling like the last couple of years have yielded somthing significant (p< .0001, trust me). I tried to make my defense date special by having my presentation at 8:30 am on Kellen's 25th birthday, though it ended up that we all forgot about saying happy birthday to him for a good part of the day. But baking soothed my stress in the afternoon, and we had a successful mix of a Kellen's birthday, Monique's thesis, lab and friends going away party that evening. It was the beginning of a couple of weeks of sleep deprivation for the both of us, but now that we've been relaxing in the summertime for a few day's and Kellen's getting over his nasty cold with some over-the-counter Argentine antibiotics, it was worth it. Turns out we weren't the only ones with an early march departure, we also said goodbye to our good friend Joe, on his way east via Australia, and to Molly and Micah, flown by now to Honolulu for a few romantic years in the sunshine. Turns out, it was one of the best farewell parties I've had...thanks to all our friends in Fort Collins for really making us feel special all the way till the end, and for being wonderful, true friends...we'll see you in June!


We've been planning this trip at least since August 2006, but you'd never have known based on how the last few days...hours...minutes in Fort Collins came together. Somehow, at 8:30 pm on February 28th, just 3 hours before our flight to Boston, after waking up at Kelly's, packing the rest of our housewares, scrubbing the house, and after I turned in my thesis to the CSU library, we squeezed the last of our belongings into an 8x10 storage unit, closed the door, parked Kellen's truck in Kelly's backyard, and took off for the airport. Many of the activities listed above were near miracles, and none could've been accomplished if we had any real need for sleep.



We took the long way to South America from Colorado, but it was worth adding a few more stops to Kellen's list of east coast landmarks. Everyone deserves a taste of New Bedford, MA, afterall, and the beautiful Cape Cod and all its good folks are always a treat. So we turned my Auntie Estelle, Uncle Paul, cousins Danielle and Lyndon's lower level into our staging ground for four great days of visits with them and Memere and Pepere LaPerriere and Pepere Dupont. Our hosts were incredible, taking us to and from train stations, feeding us, and basically taking care of us all around (Thank you!!) . On top of that, we had a couple of great days with my grandparents, who I don't get to spend time with nearly enough, and with some great friends who were kind enough to take us for a walk on the beach and a nice group dinner during our brief visit to the Cape.

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We bought plane tickets in a bit of a disorganized fashion, and proceeded to take the Fung Wah bus to New York, spend a night in Brooklyn with Quentin, and finally fly out of JFK on the 6th, when Kellen and I both took in a solid 8 hours of deep plane sleep.

Well, since then, we've been 100% relaxing. No time for photos now, but at least you can read and interpret from home the genuine happiness that I'm feeling in Buenos Aires...we'll do our best to get some photos posted (we've been taking a lot).
First off, we have another amazing host here, Win Alexander. He's the father of my best childhood friend, Alanna, and it is incredible to be in the city and have a beautiful apartment, good food and a comfy bed to call home, not to mention a tour guide, friend, and entertainer as a host. We've been sleeping in and and touring the city, drinking cheap tasty red wine, eating great food, and walking around a city that is so far above our expectations it's hard to believe. The city is huge, but it's lined in full grown trees with lush canopies and bright flowers, there is no trash anywhere, the architecture is beautiful. We could spend weeks here. I think I could live here. But I won't. Instead we leave tomorrow for Rio Gallegos, and we'll begin our tour of Patagonia certainly looking forward to returning to Buenos Aires before we head home in June.

We hope to check email frequently, though we don't really know what kind of access we'll have in the next several weeks. Feel free to write. We'll respond, and we'll do our best to post!

Mucho amor,
Monique and Kellen