Ushuaia to Bariloche 3 - 8 March 2023

3 - 8 March    After Ushuaia you can go to Antarctica ....or north 

Friday 3 March.   we wake at 2.00 am, finish packing, leave US$$ for the rent (not paying for the first, 'no bedding' night) and walk down the hill to the bus terminus.  Luggage loading starts around 2.55 am and we leave at around 3.20 am.   We're on a 12 hour trip to Rio Gallegos which, because of the way the borders work between Argentina and Chile, means 

1. leaving Argentina and entering Chile, 

2. crossing the Magellan Straits (where we had our 6 hour hold up coming south), 

3. leaving Chile and re-entering Argentina!  

Two hours for the 1st border crossings. In Chile very thorough (X-rays and sniffer dogs) in searching for eg fruit and veg -  one family has a kilo of spuds confiscated.  Despite there being a fair breeze blowing we are, thankfully, not delayed at the ferry crossing, tho, it feels like a slow trip across.  On to the next 'out and in' border crossing - Chile stamps your passport, Argentina doesn't…

Arrive in Rio Gallegos about 3.00 pm and disembark - walk over a high footbridge across a dual carriageway, find our accommodation and the chap to let us in. He's lovely, and proudly shows us round our apartment - sitting room/ kitchen on one floor, bedroom and bathroom on next floor, plus a balcony. Definitely the nicest apartment we've stayed in.  

Relax for a bit then out, over the footbridge and go to the supermarket next to the bus station.  Reasonable choice of food but a half hour queue for the the check out.  Funny to be hearing The Cure - originally from Crawley near where we live - on the PA. And I can't resist a picture of the 'Sussex' branded loo roll.

Back at base we watch TV, eat dinner (I'm not buying these vegeburgers again - taste of nothing) and to our comfy bed.

Saturday 4 March   Up and out to catch the 12 noon bus to El Calafate.  We've got the comfy 'cama' (bed) seats and the miles roll by. Only a couple of stops en route and we arrive about 4.00 pm.  Get a taxi into town explaining that we want to stop at a cash machine en route - the first bank won't play with us, but the second, Banco Patagonia works fine. Dropped at our accommodation, Terra Apart, a long way up the hill from town - definitely is very under par compared with last night.  Feeble WiFi, doors are all warped, the pilot light on the hot water tank keeps going out. There are many dogs in the area and on a couple of nights we're woken by barking.  There's a tiny grocers down the road so we can get the basics. But there's a good view of Lake Argentina in the distance.  

Sunday 5 March is overcast and chilly - we're picked up to go to the Perito Merino glacier about. 65 Kms away.  Most of the bus are Chileno, I think, but we are sitting near two women (a Brit and a Spaniard) who live in Loughborough and London respectively. They are on a two and a half week trip to Argentina and have left their husbands in Bariloche to come south to visit the glacier.

The glacier is magnificent and huge and hangs over the ends of two lakes. It's advancing at 2 metres a day and is 40 to 70 metres high; when ice breaks off (calving) it does so with no warning and a sound like thunder.  We go out for an hour on a boat to get relatively close to the face of the glacier. 

Then we're bussed round to a series of walkways to view it from higher up - we see 3 or 4 calvings and hear more when we're in the trees.  

Sadly it's raining (tho the guide says we'll get better pictures than if it was sunny/ glarey), and definitely cool, so we retreat to the cafe for a coffee and hot chocolate.

Monday 6 March   today is sunny and our tour is an 'anthropological' one - collected at 11.00 am in a large jeep driven by our guide Santiago.  9 passengers - five from Buenos Aires, two from California, and us.  Drive to a huge estancia on the Lake Argentina shore and visit caves with wall paintings that may go back 4000 years.  They've carbon dated the soot from the cave ceiling to reach that conclusion. 

The original people, the Tehuelches, who lived here were reported by C18th and C19th explorers as being very tall, up to 1.8 metres, unlike the folk on Tierra del Fuego who were much shorter.  Santiago posits the thesis that the Tehuelches people had come originally from what is now Australia, back when Gondwanaland was a thing, and/ or during an ice age. Not too sure about that.

A highlight of the trip is a three course lunch in a big cave, all set up with a cooking fire, tables, wine etc and a stunning view of the lake. 

The lake is a gorgeous milky turquoise colour due to it containing fine mineral particles from the glacier.

Back to El Calafate and we're dropped in town to wander along the main street.  Stop for a beer at the Gypsy Bar, which has a huge black board wall with a map of the world and towns where visitors have come from.  New Zealand is missing and so, less surprisingly, is Balcombe so we put that right ☺️

Tuesday 7 March.  leaving today for Bariloche, a 26 hour bus trip.  Did we really think that was such a good idea?  Pack our bags and tidy, and try to explain to reception about having to keep relighting the hot water pilot light. Walk down to the town and call in at the Aero Argentina office - we've booked a flight, using an app, for the leg after Bariloche (to Mendoza - 17 more hours in a bus vs 1.5 hour flight) but couldn't book extra luggage on the app.  All done in 10 minutes at the airline office.

Go for a coffee and sit outside at a table on the street - we've seen lots and lots of big dogs on the streets in Chile and Argentina which mostly seem well fed and coats in good condition.  As often happens we are 'adopted' by a dog who comes to lie on our feet. Not begging just hanging out.

Next stop (this is a killing time day as the bus isn't until 1730) is for a leisurely lunch - John has a steak n chips, I have a sandwich of mushrooms, spinach and mustard (a bit nicer than it sounds) and chips, with a few local beers.  Finally, visit the supermarket for snacks to take on the bus.

Walk the 1.3 kms to the bus station - which has one shop, limited WiFi and horrid loos.  Finally we're loaded onto the bus - we're downstairs, with cama/ 'bed seats' that go back about 45° and have reasonable leg room. It probably helps if you're shorter than we are!

Drive north on the Ruta 40 (which seems to be the Argentine equivalent of Route 66) across the Patagonian plains.  

Get some sleep before dawn.  Mainly paved roads but I'm woken by the noise when we are on gravel roads.  Stop about 9.00 am in Perito Merino (a town, not to be confused with the glacier) to refuel the bus, have a smoke, get a coffee and croissant and use the bathroom.  There is a loo on the bus but it's really tiny and there's no running water, only alcohol gel, for your hands.  

Stopped late morning at a police road block - the passports/ ID docs of all the people downstairs (only) are checked.  John gets a big smile when his Nueva Zelanda passport is returned.  John has to be dissuaded, however, from asking the reason for the passport checks!

It takes a long time before the very dry Patagonian landscape changes, and only once we're north of La Esquel (1,170 Kms from El Calafate) do we start to see a significant numbers of trees. The last part of the journey is definitely Alpine, with loads of pine trees.  Unfortunately the estimated arrival time of 19.30 on the ticket was very optimistic, and we finally arrive in Bariloche at 22.00 hours on Wednesday 8 March.  And then have to get a taxi, as the bus terminal is 4 kms out of town.

Reach our hostel, Moving Hostal, which is a walk up steps and ramps from the street, and finally stagger in.  John is at reception and trying to check in.

I'm talking to Henrique the barman and trying to get beer.  I win. And it's on the house.  

We check in and are shown to our room, then back to buy and drink more beer before heading for bed and a horizontal sleep.