Last Day in Yantalo

Today was our last day in Yantalo. As I write this we are on a bus headed for Lima. I was surprised how sad I was to leave. It is the end of one chapter and the beginning of another. I was also surprised to see Junior and Freddy at my house to say goodbye. Freddy was crying as I hugged him. “Te quiero ver profesional,” I told him. Junior, for the first time, didn't have a smile on his face and didn't make fun of me (He`s usually like a parrot- he repeats everything I say and laughs- except parrots don´t laugh). I will miss those kids. You know, I always thought that maybe these kids were coming to our english classes, our web design classes and everything else just because they were bored and didn't have anything else to do. I now realize that it was just because they wanted to hang out with us. I have to admit, sometimes they really tried my patience. I feel like now it was never really that hard to suffer through. This has been a really awesome time and I´ve gotten really close to the people.
Dr. Vasquez called us a couple days ago and said we are the best volunteers he´s ever had. That means a lot. I know we´ve worked really hard here, but I think what has made the biggest impression is that the nature of our work has dealt so heavily with people. We´ve lived with and learned from and taught them for months- most of the other volunteers have not been here very long and have worked on projects that are a little less personal- perhaps. Anyway- it still feels awesome to hear that from him. He seems like he can be kind of hard to please.
I´m off to visit my converts and friends in the rest of Perù now. It´s the end of one chapter and the beginning of another.