The Road to Patagonia Part 2

From Buenos Aires, it was an 18 hour bus ride to Zapala. I anticipated that I might be feeling tired, anxious, and in need of comfort for this stint of the journey, so i had purchased a ticket for the best seat I could online ahead of time. I had a hell of a time finding my bus, not realizing that the main station is massive and primarily made up of public transit terminals. At least 4 times I enterd a building to find railway tracks (Buenos Aires has an extensive underground). Each time the ticket person looked at me, very confused, and instructed me to go out of the building and left. Beet red and sweating perfusely, I eventually found my way to the bus terminal.

Leaving Buenos Aires gave me a better idea of just how big the city is. Many areas were much like other South American cities I´ve been to before, but with more prominant remnants of grand but deteriorating stone buildings. I was struck by the people´s use of green space, particularly along the highway. Any hint of grass, no matter what size, state, density of waste, or promiximity to the highway, was highly populated with picnicing families and young lovers. It was nice to see those places which I assumed to be an after thought so deliberately sought out and enjoyed. We take for granted our green spaces, us Canadians.

My bus was luxurious. I had fully reclining chair, almost in a cubicle, with a curtain I could draw half way across for privacy. I was on the second story of the bus, with a great view of the scenery along the way. In true Argentinian fashion, we were fed dinner at 10pm or so. First they serve an array on individually packaged crackers and cakes, with a small portion of potato salad. Of course I assumed this to be the extent of dinner and so filled up on leftover lunch I had packed with me. When they came around again with hot mashed potatoes and chicken, I unfortunately had no room left! We were offered wine, coke or water with our dinner, and whisky or champagne at midnight. I had wine (served elegantly in a tiny glass bottle...and a styrofoam cup), but was already hunkered down for the night by the time the second round of beverages arrived. While I wanted to take advantage of these luxueries, I realized how much more fun it would be to share them with others.

A couple of observations along the way:
1. The stray dogs here come in ALL breeds (I seeem to remember them being a homogenous type in other places. You know, midsize, dingo-like. Maybe I remember incorrectly.). It´s pretty pathetic to see those little white fluffy, yappy things typically owned by old ladies, trying to fend for themselves. Clearly they are not built for survival.

2. Also unlike my memories of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, people walk for exercise here  - even those who live rurally. Perhaps this is uninteresting, but it´s something that I have paid attentions to in order to get a sense of how ridiculous I look if I go for a run.

After being served a breakfast of more packaged crackers and cakes, I arrived in Zapala around 8am. I had a 5 hour wait here before boarding my bus to El Huecu (the town nearest the ranch I am currently at). It was a long wait but made shorter by a cute old lady who patiently took on a conversation with me. It wasn´t much of a conversation, but she took care of me. She ushered me to patches of shade as the sun moved across the sky, offered to watch over my bags if I needed to use the bathroom, and shared her crackers and gum. When she boarded her bus she wished me luck and gave me lots of kisses. I figured she would ask me for money at some point (again, an assumption made from past experiences), but she never did. There is very little tourism here so I don´t think it´s become commonplace to as gringas for money. Regardless, I enjoyed this brief encounter.

I arrived at El Huecu 3.5 hours later, where Barb (the other volunteer here) was waiting for me. Boy oh boy was it nice to see a familiar face.

One more shot as I was leaving BA.

The best part of my overnight bus.

And it just kept getting better...

...And better.

The road from Zapala to El Huecu.

The landscape got increasingly more interesting as we entered the foothills of the Andes.