Bus wheels keep on turning

I'm writing this as I sit on the longest bus ride of my life to date. 10 hours so far, with 7.5 hours to go. I can't complain though, because the trip from where I'm going to the next stop is 32 hours. I thought it would be worse than it is but I'm not having an awful time. I woke up just in time for lunch, which turned out to be a loaf of bread. There were other foreign objects on my tray that despite my hunger will not be digested by this girl, no way no how. So I started off the morning in a panic. The lovely worker at the hostel forgot for the second day in a row to pass along our wake up call requests. Luckily my back up alarm worked, but I didn't hear Baptiste downstairs, who wanted to be up at 4 to eat his breakfast before heading to the bus. I checked his room and sure enough he was still in bed, and we had 9 minutes to be at the bus. We got dressed in under a minute and ran off, with me making a mental note to not forget to review this hostel. We made the bus, but I hadn't had time to check if I had everything and my backup credit card isn't here. I ran back to the hostel, located 2 blocks up a massive hill, and with my lungs burning a pain I've never felt before, searched in the dark and then realized that even if it was there, leaving ALL my belongings on the bus was a stupider choice. If that bus left without me I had no ID, no money, no anything. So I ran back and am crossing my fingers the card  is in the room.
Things I learned today - I'm going to run out of space in my passport because Argentina and chile both feel the need to stamp it every hour as we cross the borders over route 4. I am going to contact the embassy when im back in buenos aires and get more pages added in. I met a girl who casually told me that get passport was stolen in London so she got a new one. I wouldnt be as casual about it but with enough time on the road, I think enough things happen that they become less dramatic and don't phase you as much.  I just found out that  my Brazilian visa is good for 5 years and I am now able to go to their side of the waterfalls at iguazu! That is a really nice added surprise and now I can go to see both sides and mate somewhere else in Brazil that I hadn't planned on going to! So exciting! Makes me feel better about the $180 I dropped on the visa 2 summers ago!
I think my favorite part of this experience is meeting people and hearing their stories. It seems that most Americans are on vacation. The standard 2-3 weeks, running from place to place to get it all in quick and get back to work. All of the South Americans, Europeans, Australians, israelis - they are the ones who do things right. I've met so many around the world travelers, who have been to so many amazing places. They wake up each day and decide where they'd like to go next and just do it. I'm still trying to plan my next steps but a little at a time and I'm going with it. I skipped 2 towns because of the weather and am playing the rest of Patagonia by ear. It's great because the people you meet are all going up or down the region. The ones going down can tell me about where theyve been and the ones going up can tell me where try are going. And sometimes you can travel together like I am with Baptiste. Possibly he will come with me to El Chalten or Bariloche. The next few weeks are hazy, I am going to try to stop crossing over the borders until I am sure I can get extra passport pages at the embassy in Buenos Aires.
I am also learning a lot about myself. For example, I pulled a typical Lori move - when we transferred buses in Rio Gallegos, I left my coat on the bus. I got to El Calafate, and instead of freaking it out, I said I would hold off on going to the glacier until I could buy a new coat. Good karma came around and a girl at the hostel who was on her way to the Torres del Paine heard me talking, and sold me her coat since she had just replaced it with a heavier one for her 5 day trek. I am learning to roll with the punches and enjoy each day as it comes!