Adventures in Patagonia: 14. Buses Pancheo

1st Dec 2013

Today we have to be up at 5.45 so we have time to have breakfast and get up to the Bus Terminal for a 7.30am bus to Ushuaia, a 12 hour drive away. Pancheo the bus arrived a little late and we managed to work out that if we were going to Ushuaia our bags were to go in the rear most hold and the ticket seller had told us we were to change buses on the side of the road. I've got to say that made me a little nervous as I could imagine us standing by the side of the road flagging down every bus going past and saying in a hopeful tone Ushuaia? This being the only word we had in common with the bus driver and conductor aside from hola, gracias and cafe. Pancheo turned out to be a little on the under powered side and any and all small increases in altitude dropped us back to 1st gear and 40km/hr, lucky the trip is through mile after mile of open plains. The bus was hot and stuffy and even I had to strip down to a singlet top, it was a mighty welcome relief to get out of the bus on the side of the highway into the cool air and then on to the much newer,cooler and faster bus that would take us the next 10 hours of our trip to Ushuaia. This trip continues through mile after mile of featureless plain until you cross the Andes in the last 50 km. I did get to see a small lake by the roadside that had 20 or so flamingos wading in it shallows.

12 hr bus route marked in Pink - Puerto Natales ( Chile ) to Ushuaia ( Argentina )

Waiting for Pancheo the Bus in Puerto Natales bus terminal

Boarding the ferry to get onto the Island of Tierra del Fuego

Pancheo the Bus Junior

This is pretty much the landscape for the entire 12 hrs, endless wide open plains.

Boarder crossing into Argentina

We arrive bang on time at 7.30pm in Ushuaia on a beautiful calm and cool evening, we quickly find the tourist information office where we are greeted by a lovely young lady who speaks beautiful English, she give us maps, recommends tour operators and give us directions to our hostel. The directions arn't very good as she sent us via the longest hilliest route possible, taking 1/2 and hour instead of 15 min but I suppose it's the scenic route with the least turns - she seemed very concerned that we would get lost. Valle Frio is a quaint hostel with plenty of character. The rooms are clean and warm, the water hot, the hosts conscientious and the breakfast excellent. On going downstairs to breakfast each morning we were greeted with cake as the 1st course , accompanied by a selection of pastries, fruit, breakfast cereals and drinkable instant coffee, as well as an ever present host poised to fulfill any requests we had, which I found annoying but was able to ignore.

Valle Frio our home for the next 3 nights

The girls of Orange - this frock shop was on the path to our Hostel, I'm not sure if you can tell but the mannequins in the window are the best looking plus size mannequins I've ever seen, we knew we were on the right street if we saw the big Orange girls

Having settled into our rooms we headed out to see a bit of the town, having plenty of time as the sun doesn't set until 10pm. We find a cafe and have a coffee to warm up, Andrew got an espresso which was hideous and I ordered a cappuccino which was more of a dessert than anything else, with copious amount of cream, slices of white chocolate, milk chocolate buds, grated dark chocolate and sprinkled with chocolate powder oh and a bit of instant coffee in the bottom, it was ok but not what I wanted that's for sure. We spent a long time down at the water front taking pictures and enjoying the view as Ushuaia had put on one of those wonderful sunsets that just get more beautiful with each passing minute. We undoubtedly would have stayed longer if it had been warmer or it there had been a pleasant place to sit, Ushuaias waterfront is a functional place not a place for romantic lingerings. We found our way to an Argentinian all you can eat BBQ restaurant recommended by our hosts at Valle Frio and enjoyed a very good meal, I particularly like the way they cook the meat, well done - that's the only choice. With dark finally closing in we made our way back to Valle Frio and were pleasantly surprised by how comfortable the beds were, although Andrew didn't like the idea of separate beds, that was all they had available, and told me that he wouldn't be able to get to sleep without me next to him...he was snoring within 10 minuets as usual but it was a nice sentiment all the same.