Day 533 - Comodoro Rivadavia, Argentina
We awaken in Mi Refugio to bright sunlight and light winds on day 533 of our trek. We brew some coffee and began to work on the final days of our bus Odyssey. Our first bus ride gobbled up 300 miles of our journey but we have 1700 more to go.
After arriving in Ushuaia, we spent a full day researching, plotting and organizing our way to Rio Gallegos, Comodoro Rivadivia and Puerto Madryn. But now there is Bahia Blanca, Buenos Aires and Montevideo before we board our transatlantic ship to Lisbon.
These bus rides are the kind Jack Kerouac experienced when he wrote On The Road back in the 1950s. There are five buses in all needed to get us to Montevideo, each one 10 or more hours long except for the one from Comodoro to Puerto Madryn. Brutal, but we can't afford to miss the ship.
By lunch we haven’t budged from Mi Refugio. The organizing continues. I make more coffee and little sandwiches and we get back to work. More tapping and teeth grinding as we labor the narrow digital bandwidth to slowly book the remaining buses, hotels, tickets for the ferry and bus from Buenos Aires to Montevideo, trying as much as possible to stay near bus stations and docks. Often walking to hotels is easier than finding a taxi. In some places, we don't even know if there ARE taxis. I realize I have booked the wrong ferry to Montevideo. So we have to book another one. It’s all about as fun as banging your head with a brick.
Eventually we wrap up our plans and pack our bags. Hector picks us up at 6 pm and at 7:03 the 7 pm bus to Comodoro pulls out of the station.
12 hours later, our Andes Mar bus takes us to Comodoro Rivadavia, named for the Grandson of Argentina’s first president. The bus is pretty comfortable but still, it’s a bus, and it’s 12 hours, overnight.
Our hotel isn’t ready when we arrive so we pass a couple of hours walking the quay that is being upgraded. Much of the city, it seems, is being upgraded and the big bay of St. George is beautiful.
In time we make it to our room, grab some food, do more work and walk the town to buy snacks because we’ll be taking our next bus the following morning. This one to the substantial city of Puerto Madryn.
