A 26 Hour Documented Bus Ride - El Bolson to El Calafate

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Until now the longest bus journey we have done has been 12 hours and its about to be more than doubled. We have over 2000km of arid land to go over before finally arriving into El Calafate, 5 hours outside Puerto Natales. We are more than likely going to go insane on it and I thought it would be best to write down this painfully enduring journey.

11 am - The bus pulled into El Bolson and we see exactly where we are going to be spending the next day and a little bit. We had only one choice of seat, Premier or Cama, which is a big comfy chair that reclines to almost 160*. Here we go.

11.30 am - The initial excitement of spending all this time on the bus has begun to wear off but they must have expected it because on comes a bit of James Bond, Quantum of Solace. That'll sort out a couple of hours.

12.30 pm - Were mid film and what better way to improve the overall experience than feed people. The food to say it was on a bus was pretty good, and definitely enough. Sandwiches, rice and chicken, juice, more bread because they love bread here and cake kept us happy. He brought the food in two waves, first the sandwiches and then the chicken and rice. We were just about to set into our own pre made extra sandwiches before he must have sensed it and brought it the rice and chicken. God move my man.

1.30 pm - Bond is over, food is finished and the next film is coming on. However with a poor choice of '2012' the next 3 hours is devoted to writing the blog and Laura is settled her book.

2.30 pm - Laura's nagging has begun and the only way to shut her up is to give her food in the form of an Alfajores. Hopefully it will work and keep her entertained a bit longer.

4 pm - Tactical toilet stop by the driver and stretch time. We both made full use of this and ready to continue the ride.

5.30 pm - What I presumed to be 3 hours blog writing turned into 4 and still going. My bum is now going numb on the seat, not a good sign, gangrene to follow. Laura is still going on the book but becoming more and more agitated and distracted by the film 'The DiVinci Code 2', its not a good choice of film by the cabin crew. They will definitely have to u their game next. Our bellies are starting to rumble too so we've broken into the sandwich box hoping that the next meal isn't too far away.

*****scenery update****** - What started out as very mountainous and scenic had now become very baron and good for making football pitches on, extremely flat. Not much is alive from the view of the windows.

5.45 pm - Alfajores number 2 consumed.

5.46 pm - Our worst nightmare has come true, a child is on board and its crying. The next update might be a last goodbye.

7 pm - We've got good news and bad news, the bad news is the film has stopped working and the good if not great news is that the baby has given in crying, touchwood, it carries on. All we need now is a bit of food.

*****Lord of the Rings update***** - The film has officially ruined it for me, I've given in.

*****scenery update****** - Its mixing up a but now, the flat seems to be going and instead replaced by small mountains and one hell of a lake. Lets hope it carries on and then if the TV continues not to work at least we have something to look at!

7.30 pm - Film is back on and we've just spotted what looked like 3 pink flamingoes in a patch of wetland and some rather big looking birds of prey. Tea has got to be coming up soon. Fingers crossed, we've got a moody Laura brewing. Smaller news, we've figured out ow to open the toilet which at a later time may prove to be a massive development.

8.10 pm - Still no food. We aren't used to the none English times of eating. A message from Laura "who wants tea at 9pm, not me!"

*****scenery update****** - Oil fields after oil fields.

9 pm - Hunger upon Hunger. Still no food, good job we have supplies!

9.45 pm - FOOOOOOOOOOD! It was one of the best moments of the journey so far, we were that hungry that anything would do. And tea fitted into the "anything" criteria, rice and a burger with a standard portion of bread. And to go with the food, the film "My Sisters Keeper" and Alfajores number 3.

11.45 pm - That has got to be one of the biggest tear jerkers we've ever watched, if it was made for the sole purpose of making people cry it worked. Once the heart strings had taken a beating it wasn't long until we were fast off but they don't give you a blanket which I banked on too much wearing shorts! Bad bad move! 1/2/3/4 am - Constant wake ups to differing bus temperatures. The heating is on one minute and off the next.

8.30 am - The lights are on and there turned the music up, it must mean one thing, breakfast time. Out it comes, 3 crackers, Jam and of course an Alfajores, number 4 of the journey. So don't expect too much food wise on the bus, they give you enough to keep you alive but packin a load of cheese sandwiches was a wise move.

*****scenery update****** - Similar to the night before, flat and arid. In the next 5 hours I think things will take a change.

9.00 am - A quick bus change in Rio Gallegos gave us the opportunity for a freshen up in the toilets. Its only another 5 hours and we are there. Time is passing by quickly.

******NEWS FLASH****** - Laura has cut he finer open, requiring medical treatment and a plaster. She wanted everyone to know because she hasn't got much sympathy off me.

10.15 am - Seen our first Alpacas and some sort of massive bird, possibly an ostrich?! We can't work it out but it was big. Hunger is creeping back again. Laura's still feeling the pain from her recent laceration.

11 am - 24 hours into the journey and still going strong. Its not been anywhere near as bad as it may seem and we've enjoyed a bit of down time. Its easy to see that we are nearly there as the mountains are in the distance and starting to creep slowly forward.

12.15 pm - We've written Laura a potential job list because boredom has kicked in. Unfortunately there aren't any films on this leg of the journey and the book is a lost cause now. We are into the final hour countdown mode. Its also confirmed that the big birds are ostriches and we've seen more flamingoes!

*****scenery update****** - The mountains of the distance have now disappeared out of view and we are left with very small rolling hills. In a weird way its beautiful, there is nothing for miles and miles around, not even a tree.

1 pm - Only 20km away and the journey is nearly at an end. We are driving now right towards the centre of the mountains which look incredible all coated in snow. What was baron and bleak has now escalated from nowhere into an awesome mountain range. We never got a second lunch however.

*****Note of advice****** - BRING FOOD

1.15 pm - As scheduled we rolled into El Calafate. 26 hours on a bus complete and I've got to say, it wasn't half bad at all.

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