A few days before I went on my epic trip to South America my car got hit. I was driving through an intersection (yes, the light was green), and this complete idiot came at me from the left and ran right into my back passenger seat door. I could see him coming. I tried to swerve out of his way. I was sure he would stop. He had to have seen me. I was right in front of him. But, alas, he ran right into me. I got out of my car and walked over to where he had stopped. He was looking at his car puzzled. His front left bumper was hanging off. I said – What happened? And he said – ” I think I ran into somebody”. (Really?)

I said – ” yes, You ran into me!” Oh, he said. Then he said he was lost and was looking for the local Catholic Charity homeless shelter and did I know where it was. (Really??) I said it was nearby. “Do you have insurance?” I said. I wasn’t feeling hopeful but I had to ask.

Luckily the guy did have insurance. Unfortunately the damage was too great and the insurance company totaled my car. This upset me because although my car was 10 years old, it had low mileage and there was nothing wrong with it. The engine was fine. I thought about keeping it anyway. But after getting a couple of bids, it turned out it was too expensive to fund the repair myself.

They picked up my car yesterday. It was a sad day. I had a wake. By myself (and a little vodka). I really liked that car.

Having to come back from a long trip and immediately deal with all of this retarded my trip recovery. I usually need about a week to get back into the swing of things but this time it is taking longer. I also had an issue with my furnace just before I left and had to deal with that right away when I got back. Luckily it turned out to be a minor issue.

So now almost two weeks later, I have done most of my laundry, dealt with my car, dealt with my furnace, done some laundry, caught up on high school reunion plans, unpacked, and started planning my next trip in September. I guess I’ve done a lot. I’m almost back in step with reality.

Whether I like it or not.

Trip Roundup – I went to Easter Island and Patagonia with an organization called Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT). It was my first time using them. I’m not big on using organized tours but there are places I want to go to and are difficult to organize on my own. This was one of those places. I wanted to cover a lot of Patagonia and I didn’t want to go by boat so this was one of the few tours I found that offered what I was looking for. The Easter Island part was a pre-trip add on that I figured I couldn’t pass up and I’m glad I went for it. It was definitely worth it. A fabulous experience. The group was small, only eight people.

From there we went to Buenos Aires to meet up with the rest of the group and start the main tour. We were 16 to begin with but one guy got sick and left after about five days. So then we were 15. We had local guides at every stop and most of them were very good at providing interesting relevant information. One or two were a bit tedious. This tour group is big on having that “local experience”. I’m pretty cynical and have mixed feelings about such things since they are obviously staged and paid for so not very spontaneous. I have always enjoyed the magical moments that happen when you turn up in a village and somebody invites you in. But that is not so easy with 15 people in tow.

We ate at a family ranch, we dined with a family in their home, and we all helped make a local dish at a small farm. They were all things I could have lived without but all the people are nice and some were interesting. The other thing they like to do on these tours is have lectures on “controversial subjects”. They weren’t really controversial but I think they were educational and good for people to know about. We heard from a man whose mother was one of the “disappeared” in Argentina, and from a woman of German descent who talked about Nazis hiding in Chile and Argentina. The most interesting lecture for me was the one about the Mapuche Indians of Northern Patagonia. Apparently the Spaniards were never able to conquer them.

I really enjoyed the long bus rides through the Patagonian emptiness. The occasional encounters with rhea and guanaco. And of course the beauty of the landscape. That is why I went. All the other stuff like dealing with personalities, weird encounters, annoying guides, and too many airplane rides, didn’t matter.

Would I go with this tour group again? It is funny because most of the people on the trip had been on tours with this group 5 to 20 times. They all seemed to really love it. I thought they were well organized and the Trip Leader was fantastic. Overall I would say it was a good company. I probably wouldn’t go again with them unless they offered a particular trip I was interested in, like this one. I’m not a traveler just to travel. I travel to see particular things I am interested in. So I wouldn’t randomly choose this company. But you could.