The Longest Bus Journey Ever

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82 hours of travelling by bus!!

Well we wanted to high tail it down south to see if we could make it to see Southern Argentina before we leave for Australia.

So we started this trip in Ica - about 4 hours south from Lima by bus.

First up was a over night 15 hour bus journey on a semi-cama bus - This was grand bar the bus bingo we were asked to play, they seemed a little bothered when we said no. Still don't think out Spanish would have stretched to a wining bingo speech to a bus full of locals.

When we got to the border with Chile, we had to wait and get a collective taxi across the border. This is a big old American car and a couple of strangers along with a very helpful driver that walks you through the border formalities. Once in Chile we were dropped at the bus station in Arica hoping to get another bus to Santiago.

The next full cama bus (no way were we doing semi cama as this was about 20hours of a journey) was 6 hours wait, so we booked and paid for it. Then we killed 6 hours in the bus station.

We got Pullmen bus company, which is one of the biggest in Chile and one of the best companies in South America. The bus was as expected with all the comforts of full cama. So we left Arica for Santiago, the journey took us a total of 29 hours and we arrived into the capital a bit worse for wear at it was 11pm, so our plan to get another bus straight over the mountains to Mendoza, in Argentina, weren't going to happen.

With the help of the guy in the bus station we got a cheap hotel close by and a taxi. We just needed a bed for the night. First thing the next morning, we went back to the bus station and got ourselves 2 tickets to Mendoza, back to Argentina over 5 weeks after we have left it.

This leg of the journey took about 7 hours, over the Andes, it was a nice crossing on the Chile side but so so cold on the Argentinian. After this journey we arrived in the bus station in Mendoza, as we had been here before and now with our Spanish getting somewhat decent, we headed to one of the office and asked when the next bus to Bariloche was, and of course we wanted full cama. We got the next bus we left 45 mins later and got full cama. The final leg of the of the journey would take 15 hours. It was a nice journey and felt somewhat like coming home being back in Argentina.

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