Operación Calabaza

So I actually ended my Peace Corps service about a week ago (COSed in PC lingo) and am currently in the US. The thing is, my parents have no clue.

Peace Corps has a policy that bans taking vacation in the final months of service. I originally only wanted to extend my time from July to the end of October but with my trip to France for my friend’s wedding in September I was given the options of either finishing at the end of August or staying until mid-December to have the required three months of time after the vacation. I wanted to be home for Thanksgiving, but I needed the extra time to finish up my project so I decided to extend my Peace Corps service until the middle of December.

And then the Peace Corps policy changed from three months to two months.

Even though it is against Peace Corps policy to change your COS (Close of Service) date once it has been set, with my special circumstances, I was given the option of changing my date. So after some deliberation (passing over my project to a local group was not going as quickly as I hoped and losing a month would leave me a bit pressed for time) I decided to move from date from December 16 to November 16.

Operación Calabaza was born.

With the help of my three brothers, I devised a plan to surprise my parents for Thanksgiving. Our family usually celebrates Thanksgiving in Oklahoma, but this year we are breaking from tradition and having it in Burlington, Vermont at my cousin Patrick’s house. My youngest brother, Regan, was already planning on roadtripping from Missouri to Vermont and this worked out perfectly for my plan.

On Friday night I flew out of Guatemala and arrived in Chicago at about one in the morning on Saturday (direct flight from Taca!). Regan picked me up there and we have spent the past three days driving across the country. My parents, on the other hand, are currently with my other brothers in route by plane to Vermont. I’ll surprise them at my cousin’s house in Burlington.

Well, that is what will happen if Operación Calabaza goes exactly as planned. Since I don’t know whether I’ll have access to the internet during our roadtrip, I am actually writing this while I am still in Guatemala and scheduling it to post automatically today while Regan and I are on the road and my parents are in the air. Barring any car problems or flight delays, it should work, but after over two and a half years living in an LDC (less developed country), I shall be hoping for the best but expecting the worst.

Now I just hope no one has a heart attack.