Last Day in Argentina

Yesterday (May 29) we had an EARLY morning wake up call; most of us only getting about 5 hours of sleep! We had all packed our suitcases earlier in the day, so when we woke up, all we had to do was brush our teeth and head downstairs to pack the van and head to the bus station. Once again we got to ride one of our favorite double-decker buses, the ones with the "semi-cama" or as we would call it, "a really cool seat that reclined really far back and had an awesome foot rest". We were all packed up and headed off on our way back to Córdoba, but first we had one more stop to make on our Argentina adventure! We rode the bus from San Francisco for about two hours before we stopped in Río Primero to coach our final hockey clinic. Players were ranging  from ages 8 to 25, and we were able to teach a variety of skills. We were all quite tired by that point, but all had enough energy to really make the best of our final activity of the trip! After the clinic, some of us had the opportunity to play against some of the older/more advanced players of the clinic, as well as a local men's team. It wasn't quite as traditional of a scrimmage as we are used to, due to us playing on a dirt field in sneakers, with our shin guards taped onto our shins; but it was such a fun opportunity to play one last time in Argentina! After we were done, we took another bus the rest of the way to Córdoba, where we stopped at Hotel Viena again to all shower and get ready for dinner. We were all able to wind down, and made sure we had everything for the airport one final time. We then headed to dinner at a local restaurant, where we were able to have an Argentine favorite again, "asado" (aka lots and lots of meat). We finished dinner with an amazing dessert of chocolate and strawberry ice cream, and were all ready to head to the airport. We got to the airport at around 12:00, and there, we had to say our goodbyes to the amazing Herndon family (and Kelly & Cele). We only knew their family for 10 days, but I think I could speak for everyone in saying that it was one of the hardest goodbyes we've ever had (and a very tearful goodbye as well). We then boarded the plane, and started our journey back to the States (while flying through the stars) and trying to catch up on sleep during the 6 1/2 hour flight!
-Lindsay Bower