Seven weeks in South America

I write this as I sit on a place flying from Barcelona back to Amsterdam, my current home.  I'm due to land at approximately 9:15am but I think we're running a little late, which is somewhat concerning as I'm due at work at 10:45. Only somewhat concerning mind you. I'm less concerned about this than I possibly should be as my head is currently entirely preoccupied with thoughts of South America, which is where I am flying tomorrow evening.  Somehow between now and then I have to fit in working a shift at both of my jobs, purchasing the last fewmissing items from my list (it turns out that it's not so simple to purchase thermals in Amstewrdam in the middle of summer!), return borrowed items to their owners, move house (I found out last week that I'm being evicted, which is a story for another time, was not my fault, and has the bonus of meaning I'm not paying rent while I'm away, but also unfortunately means I'm homeless when I return.  This is something I have chosen to worry about then.) and a friend is currently begging me to proofread his thesis before I go, and like an idiot I've promised to try. So it's going to be busy. But that's good isn't it?  It stops you worrying about all of those other minor side issues, like uncooperative volcanos in Chile, and the fact that I have a 1 hour layover in Frankfurt, an airport that appears to have been closed until today because they were relocating, or renovating, or something, the air traffic control tower. So clearly flying through there is guaranteed to go smoothly, with no delays, or detours... oh god!  The bit that concerns me the most though is that Rick and I are flying with different airlines, via different cities.  This was a decision that made perfect sense at the time- he booked his flight 2 weeks before I did and it would have cost an extra 200 euro for me to fly with him, which seemed a lot of money to pay just to sit next to someone.  That said, it doesn't seem as much to guarantee we both end up in the same city.  At the moment though it appears the fates are smiling on us as the Buenos Aires airport reopened on Friday and Lufthansa (at least their website) appears confident that Frankfurt airport is operational, so here's hoping...