Salta
So here we are in Salta, northern Argentina, which is 8 hours by bus from the border with Bolivia.
The bus jounrey here was a bit of a nightmare. It all started so well. I had booked the journey with this company called Chevallier, which has one of the best reputations here (according to "the" book), and we had got the two seats at the front - a real bonus as you don´t have the danger of a Diego mullett in your face for 22 hours. We left Buenos Aires at about 3.45pm on Tuesday. The bus was nice and new and we set off on our trip in good spirits. I had decided to take photos of the trip as well, for the purpose of writing a blog about bus travel here, but unfortunately I can´t publish them on this PC (I´ll try and post some pictures at the bottom of this blog when I next get to a decent PC).
After a few hours of shithead, basking in the afternoon sun at the front of the bus, we suddenly pulled up on the side of the road and the drivers got out. Something had gone wrong. Nevermind, after a couple of minutes we were back on the road. It didn´t even enter our heads that this would affect our trip.
Anyway, a few hours later we found ourselves in a Chevallier garage in the middle of nowhere. Something HAD gone wrong with the bus and it became apparent that the drivers weren´t prepared to make the journey without fixing it. Once they stopped the engine in the garage they couldn´t start it again. We were stuck there for a good hour or so as the mechanics went through every sized spanner they had. Finally they got it started and we thought we would be on the road again. Wrong!! They told us to get off the bus and get onto another one they had reversed out of the garage.
Now, the original bus was plush. This one was awful. It was pretty old and dirty and it had a massive crack running the entire length of the windscreen. This wasn´t a good sign, especially as we were sat at the front (we also had to sit on the drivers side which is a bit sketchy as traffic on the other side of the road seems to pass you at very high speed with only a few feet to spare).
So off we went into the night. After a while H and I ran out of water, and because the bus was running late it didn´t look like the bus was going to make a stop. To make maters worse we were sat in front of the most annoying child in South America. He just didn´t shut up. Tempers were beginning to get a bit flared and H and I were trying to mentally prepare ourselves for the fact we may not get anything to eat or drink for the next 12 hours.
Eventually we did stop. In the middle of nowhere next to this shitty restaurant. Of course evryone piled in there. We made a bolt for the Shell garage over the road. It was such a relief. Even though the bread on the minging sandwich was stale, it was FOOD. And we bought beer and water.
Our spirits raised we set off into the night. We managed to get some kip, and the bus made it to Salta on time. We were met at the bus station by a guy from the hostel we had booked into, and he put us in a taxi which took us there. As soon as we arrived we noticed we had left H´s sleeping bag behind. It was on the bus. Luckily the guy at the hostel rang the guy at the bus stop and he picked it up for us. It would have been sod´s law to lose that a few days before heading to Bolivia.
Anyway, the hostel is cool. Shane is here and last night the hostel did this huge BBQ which was great. We ended up meeting a cool bunch of people (Oisin - Shane´s mate from Ireland, Jess, Charlie, Lizzie and Erica) and stayed up until 6am, drinking in this local bar called Barney´s.
It rained for most of the day today so we all mooched around town and booked our bus tickets to the border. We leave at midnight tomorrow, travel for 8 hours by bus to La Quiaca, then cross the border into Villazòn, then wait 8 hours for a train, which will take another 8 hours to get to Uyuni, from where we will do a trip to the Salt Plains (Salar de Uyuni). It promises to be a mission, but there are a group of us doing it so it should be a good laugh if nothing else.
I am not sure what the internet connection will be like in Bolivia and if I can blog from there I will do. Otherwise I will catch up on everything when we return to Argentina in ten days or so.
The bus jounrey here was a bit of a nightmare. It all started so well. I had booked the journey with this company called Chevallier, which has one of the best reputations here (according to "the" book), and we had got the two seats at the front - a real bonus as you don´t have the danger of a Diego mullett in your face for 22 hours. We left Buenos Aires at about 3.45pm on Tuesday. The bus was nice and new and we set off on our trip in good spirits. I had decided to take photos of the trip as well, for the purpose of writing a blog about bus travel here, but unfortunately I can´t publish them on this PC (I´ll try and post some pictures at the bottom of this blog when I next get to a decent PC).
After a few hours of shithead, basking in the afternoon sun at the front of the bus, we suddenly pulled up on the side of the road and the drivers got out. Something had gone wrong. Nevermind, after a couple of minutes we were back on the road. It didn´t even enter our heads that this would affect our trip.
Anyway, a few hours later we found ourselves in a Chevallier garage in the middle of nowhere. Something HAD gone wrong with the bus and it became apparent that the drivers weren´t prepared to make the journey without fixing it. Once they stopped the engine in the garage they couldn´t start it again. We were stuck there for a good hour or so as the mechanics went through every sized spanner they had. Finally they got it started and we thought we would be on the road again. Wrong!! They told us to get off the bus and get onto another one they had reversed out of the garage.
Now, the original bus was plush. This one was awful. It was pretty old and dirty and it had a massive crack running the entire length of the windscreen. This wasn´t a good sign, especially as we were sat at the front (we also had to sit on the drivers side which is a bit sketchy as traffic on the other side of the road seems to pass you at very high speed with only a few feet to spare).
So off we went into the night. After a while H and I ran out of water, and because the bus was running late it didn´t look like the bus was going to make a stop. To make maters worse we were sat in front of the most annoying child in South America. He just didn´t shut up. Tempers were beginning to get a bit flared and H and I were trying to mentally prepare ourselves for the fact we may not get anything to eat or drink for the next 12 hours.
Eventually we did stop. In the middle of nowhere next to this shitty restaurant. Of course evryone piled in there. We made a bolt for the Shell garage over the road. It was such a relief. Even though the bread on the minging sandwich was stale, it was FOOD. And we bought beer and water.
Our spirits raised we set off into the night. We managed to get some kip, and the bus made it to Salta on time. We were met at the bus station by a guy from the hostel we had booked into, and he put us in a taxi which took us there. As soon as we arrived we noticed we had left H´s sleeping bag behind. It was on the bus. Luckily the guy at the hostel rang the guy at the bus stop and he picked it up for us. It would have been sod´s law to lose that a few days before heading to Bolivia.
Anyway, the hostel is cool. Shane is here and last night the hostel did this huge BBQ which was great. We ended up meeting a cool bunch of people (Oisin - Shane´s mate from Ireland, Jess, Charlie, Lizzie and Erica) and stayed up until 6am, drinking in this local bar called Barney´s.
It rained for most of the day today so we all mooched around town and booked our bus tickets to the border. We leave at midnight tomorrow, travel for 8 hours by bus to La Quiaca, then cross the border into Villazòn, then wait 8 hours for a train, which will take another 8 hours to get to Uyuni, from where we will do a trip to the Salt Plains (Salar de Uyuni). It promises to be a mission, but there are a group of us doing it so it should be a good laugh if nothing else.
I am not sure what the internet connection will be like in Bolivia and if I can blog from there I will do. Otherwise I will catch up on everything when we return to Argentina in ten days or so.
posted by Jonny @ 7:57 PM
3 Comments:
At 10/4/06 1:51 AM,
Me said…
Another bus journey from hell. You should write a book. "Bus Journeys From Hell" you could call it.
At 10/4/06 10:33 AM,
Anonymous said…
then if you went travelling again you could do a series, e.g. the worst bus journeys from hell ever volume 2, plane journeys sitting next to Satan incarnated etc I think that we are on to a winner here!
Kim xxx
At 15/4/06 4:24 PM,
Jonny said…
Thanks for the comments Kim and Matt (and Mikey obviously).
Am now in Bolivia and a couple of days ago we went on a bus trip that makes all the others pale into insignificance (and thats not including what happened at the bus stop whilst waiting to get on the bus). It was a shocker. Details to follow once I have caught up on a few bits.
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