The Day Before

The Miami International Airport fills and empties as we wait out our extensive layovers- mine is 8 hours, the other student’s flying through Miami are around the same. The last couple nights were sleepless and filled with frantic packing- it’s impossible to truly know what is needed until we arrive in Urumbamba, a city in Peru nestled in the mountains.


Usually frugal, I spent 8 dollars on the airport’s high speed Internet, perhaps the last I will encounter until July. I will spend the next hours frantically e-mailing, Facebooking and in general wrapping up the loose ends of the American life that I along with 19 other Duke students will abandon for two months in an attempt better lives in Cuzco and Urumbamba. All possessions meant to sustain us for over sixty days are crammed into suitcases under a plane while we take advantage of the last vestiges of the US that we will encounter for a while. With tangible excitement, we wait until tomorrow.