Pit Stop

I get home and start checking the internet and I notice that Morrissey is holding a baby on the cover of his new album. Por Que?

It was a crazy travel day leaving Pucon. The bus had a flat tire on the way to Santiago so I was worried that I wouldn't get to the airport on time for my flight. Everything turned out alright and I even had enough time to order some food at the Ruby Tuesday's at the airport. The flight was long and I'm in the mode where I'm getting used to speaking to people with American accents again. I always seem to want to stay longer when I travel to South America. I don't know why. For Switzerland, it was the end of the ski season and for Asia, I was ready to come home to see friends and family. However, the last two times in South America, I wanted to extend my travels to hang out with people who I met along the way.

I arrived in Dallas at 6 AM. Everything was going smoothly until I was the last one standing at baggage claim with no bag. This puts me in a somewhat difficult situation since I leave for New Zealand in 36 hours. My thoughts turned to what could have happened. Could someone have walked off with my bag on accident? That seems very unlikely since I had my tent and Keen sandals strapped to the outside of the bag. The other possibility is that the bag never left Santiago. If they found it and put it on the next flight to DFW, it would arrive tomorrow which would do me little good. I mentally went through the inventory of items in my backpack that I needed for New Zealand and Australia. I had backups for most items, but I would have to buy new toiletries, sleeping bag, guide books, and rain gear. Crap! More rain gear! The list of things to buy gets bigger as I think about it. Maybe I'll pack light and buy everything in NZ.

The house was immaculate when I walked in the front door. Jaime had cleaned the place up quite nicely since I left. Now I had to go through piles of mail separating out the bills and tax forms from the junk mail. The day will also be spent uploading pictures and catching up on emails and such.

I'm glad I am not spending too much time at home. You just get way too comfortable when you are at home for a while.