Ruta 40

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So after those two full days of hiking in El Chalten, I took a bus up North on the infamous Ruta 40. A "highway" that travels up North along the Andes to the northern part of Patagonia. So, after two days of 12-14 hours on a bus, I arrived in Bariloche on the evening of the 28th. You might think: why would anyone want to be on a bus for 12-14 hours a day for two consecutive days... and i can understand the question, but the answer is quite simple: i love the mountains and desert, and with the ipod handy, a good book and lots of other travelers to meet and chat with, the days really went by quite fast. The first day, we traveled something around 600km, but since most of the road is gravel, and NOT paved, the going is slow and at times you think that the rocks that hit the underside of the bus are coming right through! We stopped overnight in the sleepy town of Perito Moreno and i had dinner with two girls from Switzerland and then it was back on the bus at 8: am the next morning for the remaining 800+ km to Bariloche! The closer we got to Bariloche, the greener the terrain got and the more mountains we could see and it already got me fired up for more hiking. So more on Bariloche in the next entry.

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