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Published: January 15th 2012
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Bariloche Town
We were so grateful to have arrived! This blog is about our adventures with Argentinian buses!
We had bought a ticket from El Calafate to Bariloche further North; a very long journey, which we naively thought would be on one bus...but no, it was on three buses! The first of which left at something like four in the morning! We slept little on this short three hour journey to Rio Galleos, even further south than we were in El Calafate. We then had to transfer to a more comfortable bus for the journey from Rio Galleos to Comodoro the next day. This was the bus that broke down....and we were stuck...for seven hours! It was cold outside, and because we were in a very random small town, there was not too much in the way of fixing a broken bus. The local mechanic drove back and forth and all the guys outside the window looked freezing cold as they tried to help fix whatever had gone wrong with the back wheel. It got dark just to complicate matters for the mechanics, and the lonely cafeteria at the bus station closed up shop. The food on the bus ran out - which wasn't too upsetting as we had been given the same meal a few times, and about three alfajores during our day on the bus! Finally, very late at night, everyone cheered as the bus was able to get moving again and we went on to the next stop called Comodoro, seven hours behind schedule.
Unfortunately for us, we had missed our connection from Comodoro to Bariloche. At Comodoro, the bus company said we could take a bus to Trailew, five hours away and from there, take a bus to Neuqen, and then to Bariloche! Rather long winded, but that was what they suggested. So, we went overnight on a bus to Trailew and when we arrived there, they said it would be quicker to return to Comodoro and take the bus from there to Bariloche (the same bus we had intended to take the night before!)...So.....BACK WE WENT!! Another five hours on the bus back to where we had been!
Back in Comodoro, we had eight hours before our bus to Bariloche 24 hours behind schedule!! The ironic part was that there was no space left in cama (bed) class, so we had to go semi-cama and our compensation was laughable! What a journey! Eight hours in Comodoro was actually quite entertaining and it was nice to walk around and get some fresh air and decent food, and just not be on a bus! It's definitely not a place on the tourist map, but was fine to wander round. It is an industrial town and not much more. After marching up the hill just to use our legs, once again, we were back on the bus and spent our third night on board, en route to Bariloche!
FINALLY we arrived the next day, 24 hours late and in desperate need of a shower, a flat bed and some stillness!!
So that is how not to travel from El Calafate to Bariloche on five different buses! But hey, it was entertaining and left me with stories to tell & good camraderie with Argentinian bus drivers and mechanics! All part of the adventure of travel!
JHG
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Maddy
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Buses in winter!
I am looking to go from El Calafate to Bariloche but at the beginning of July, and everything seems not to run then! Can you please give me, if any, some bus company names? And if not an airline that flys this route directly? Thanks!