We thought hard about out route through Argentina and decided to go for the jugular, which means many 20 hour plus bus rides with the aim of getting to the farthest town in the southern hemisphere, Ushuaia and then traveling North to Mendonsa before heading into Santiago, Chile. This meant Iguacu to Buenos Aires first, which is a 20 hour bus ride.
We walked around and found a deal with the bus company Rio Uruguay. Here I need to explain the bus system in Argentina. The buses are divided broadly into 4 categories Cama Suite (180 bed) , Cama ( big seats and 135 recliner) , Semi cama ( less wide seats and reclines a tad less than the Cama) and then the commun or really local bus. Most long routes only offer the 1st three. Rio Uruguay offered us a Cama bus for $3 more than the Semi Cama so we jumped on it. Remember the tickets cost aboit US$90 each for a 20 hour ride. Steep???? Its a bloody cliff !!The only saving grace is that they give you dinner and breakfast!
We got on the bus at 2pm. At 3, they surpised us with a plate of ALFAGOR or a sweet biscuit like tart and coffee or soft drinks.. The seats were way more comfortable than any flight I´ve taken. At 7 they gave us a packet of salted biscuits and offered us a drink. Yes... a real alcoholic drink... on a bus! The options were whisky or liquor, which I realised meant snapps with real ice cubes. Great start I thought! At 8 we were offered more alcohol with Vino thrown in for good measure. At 9 we were served a dinner that would make any airline business class proud. A pie, salad with a vinaigrette, bread, butter , cheese, dulce e leche ( something super sweet like sweetened condensed milk that Argentines can´t live without and something I would rather not have known existed) , Chicken Milanese, rice and a desert! I was sure there must be a catch when they came around half an hour later with another plate of alfagor and champagne!! And yes it was a pretty great champagne!
Anu is pretty sure there was a chepaer ticket that we missed out on!!
What a way to enter Buenos Aires !
We walked around and found a deal with the bus company Rio Uruguay. Here I need to explain the bus system in Argentina. The buses are divided broadly into 4 categories Cama Suite (180 bed) , Cama ( big seats and 135 recliner) , Semi cama ( less wide seats and reclines a tad less than the Cama) and then the commun or really local bus. Most long routes only offer the 1st three. Rio Uruguay offered us a Cama bus for $3 more than the Semi Cama so we jumped on it. Remember the tickets cost aboit US$90 each for a 20 hour ride. Steep???? Its a bloody cliff !!The only saving grace is that they give you dinner and breakfast!
We got on the bus at 2pm. At 3, they surpised us with a plate of ALFAGOR or a sweet biscuit like tart and coffee or soft drinks.. The seats were way more comfortable than any flight I´ve taken. At 7 they gave us a packet of salted biscuits and offered us a drink. Yes... a real alcoholic drink... on a bus! The options were whisky or liquor, which I realised meant snapps with real ice cubes. Great start I thought! At 8 we were offered more alcohol with Vino thrown in for good measure. At 9 we were served a dinner that would make any airline business class proud. A pie, salad with a vinaigrette, bread, butter , cheese, dulce e leche ( something super sweet like sweetened condensed milk that Argentines can´t live without and something I would rather not have known existed) , Chicken Milanese, rice and a desert! I was sure there must be a catch when they came around half an hour later with another plate of alfagor and champagne!! And yes it was a pretty great champagne!
Anu is pretty sure there was a chepaer ticket that we missed out on!!
What a way to enter Buenos Aires !
I hope you drank Anu's portions, too, Unni. (and, screw flying!!)
ReplyDeleteit was unlimited so did not have to... unbelievable! jUST REALISED THAT WAS A ONE OFF AFTER A FEW MORE 20 AND 30 HOUR BUS RIDES! AHHH . JINXED IT I THINK
ReplyDeletesuper stuff :)
ReplyDeleteWe´ve now been on buses that barely even stop for 24 hours even when they don´t feed us. So clearly, we were bloody lucky with this one
ReplyDelete