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You are here: Home / Archives for transportation

Overnight buses

November 10, 2009 By Danny

Leaving Bariloche we had a 15 hour to our next stop, Comodoro Ridavia, which we were only stopping in to break up our journey further south, an additional 10 hours in bus the following night. That second bus ride encountered some road work and although we did sleep on the bus, the bus didn’t move between the hours of 9pm and 5am. Thus we began driving around the time we were supposed to arrive. Between these two bus trips and the ensuing 5 hours to reach our actual destination we spent nearly 40 hours in bus over a 48 hour period. This has inspired us to write about our friend, the bus.
We discovered the convenience of the overnight bus on our very first night of this trip where our decision to take the bus was made for us. Since then we’ve come to rely on the overnight bus as the most efficient form of transportation for our time and money. We move while we sleep and don’t have to pay for lodging. At this point, traveling 10 hours during the day is simply unthinkable for us.

At the start, buses were generally what you’d think of if we told you we’d taken a coach bus. Seats 2×2 with a bathroom in back. These were still generally more comfortable than an airplane just on account of legroom. These buses, are called ‘classic’ buses. Now in the far south, we have a few more options. Semi-Cama, Cama, and Super Cama (cama means bed). Semi is still 4 seats to a row, 2×2, but there is a little leg support thing that comes down in front of you to make your chair infinitely more comfortable. Cama is basically the same except there are only three seats to a row, 2×1, and so the seats are much wider and generally do recline a touch further. Super is like flying international first class, the leg support that comes down to give you a lounge chair feel can actually go completely horizontal with the back support nearly hitting 180 degrees as well. This is the ultimate in comfort as you’ve basically got your own bed with a private television.

Which brings us to another great point of these buses, the movies. Countries seem to vary in their preference for watching movies in their original language or dubbed into the local language. Here in Argentina and Chile subtitles seem to win over dubbed films but this is not always a good thing. When we hear English, we can’t seem to pull our attention away. One time we were forced to watch Grease 2 in English, that was hell. We’ve now seen Transporter 3, four times, you’ve probably never seen this movie and believe me…you don’t want to. The movie before bed is often violent and bloody and if it doesn’t involve death it is still generally quite psychologically disturbing. We have seen some great movies though, it is a real shame when some of these are dubbed…like Robin Williams’ Mrs. Doubtfire. (I think there were about 5 different voice actors used to cover Robin’s different voices).

The buses here in the south generally include a meal (the topic of our next Foodie Friday) of some kind which is rather good of them. This we did not have until we reached Peru but have come to enjoy not needing to pack food immensely. While these nicer buses have affected our “bus preparation” some the process is generally the same. Leave toothbrush/toothpaste out for use either on bus or immediately before departure along with the neck pillow and earplugs. If the salesperson told us there is a blanket on the bus we’re always sure to check that out before handing our luggage over to the baggage people…we’ve been disappointed in the past. Another thing we always do is to make sure our valuables are below the bus.

This last part generally surprises people but it seems to us the safest way to travel. Every (by every I mean all but one) story we’ve heard about thievery on the buses involves people stealing things out of your hand luggage. If its down below, usually no one is going to touch it. Now, we do generally watch when we make interim stops to make sure that no one walks off with our baggage but this seems to not happen. The one exception we’ve heard to this rule was in Ecuador where we met someone who was robbed by a child who had been packed inside a piece of luggage, under the bus, and left for some hours with intent to rob as many bags as possible. As there is simply no defense for this, we don’t defend for this. This is of course our opinion, but we feel that our things are generally safer under the bus rather than on the shelf above our heads.

Some of our favorite bus stories are not from overnight buses at all though, but daytime buses. There was the ride in Bolivia, 7 hours, where the windshield broke at the start and we continued the whole way as the remaining pieces fell out…all this while a couple of indigenous women decided to play “annoy the gringo” with me and use me as their seat, nice. There was the time in Peru that a baby lamb was on the bus. It defecated in the aisle and I was curious if any veal was going to be served on account of the incident. The same bus trip also featured a small alpaca placed in the luggage compartment, we’ve seen chickens but this was very special. Leaving Argentina for our first entrance in Chile we waited at the border (10,000 feet) with the A/C running for over 4 hours. In Guatemala our bus broke down and the driver only gave each person back enough money to pay for the next bus. When our entire (full) bus jumped on the (full) next bus to pass they didn’t think to take money (this is just how they do it there) as people got on…you can imagine how much fun that ride was. This was also the site of Jill’s first thwarting of an attempted pick pocket.

In truth, traveling in this method really has saved us a load of money and time. In our 8 months of travel we’ve spent approximately an entire month’s worth of nights on a bus, if we had to do all of this during the day we’d see and do less and just be way less happy. Now in the south these buses are incredibly comfortable but even where there was no bed seating they were still always good enough. Our next voyage will be to Africa so our last night bus in Argentina will probably be our last overnight bus for a while!

Filed Under: Argentina, South America Tagged With: transportation

Incomplete Information

October 27, 2009 By Jillian

Using a guidebook is a blessing and a curse. It provides tons of information, but somewhere in the back of your mind you have to remind yourself that the guidebook can always be misleading or even (gasp!) wrong. We once flipped through a guidebook on the USA which referred to the Grand Canyon as the best site to see in California. I guess the editors didn’t get to that chapter before publishing. Big mistakes like that are easily caught by a well read traveler, but smaller mistakes or rather assumptions can leave you stranded.

A few weeks ago, on our way to Salta we arranged our transportation schedule so that we’d have a day in Resistencia. Not much to do there besides an incredible park about 50 km away, we assumed that we’d be able to take public transportation to and from the park without much fuss. Once in Resistencia, we found out that while it was possible, we’d missed the first bus and the second one would give us about an hour in the park, great. That left us with an entire day stranded with nothing exciting to do but to wait for our overnight bus. (These days usually involve a movie theater if we can find one.)

Sometimes its not the guidebooks though that get us. We’d been advised by a group of Argentinians that we absolutely must go to Parque Ischigualasto (Valle de la Luna), an UNESCO world heritage site boasting the oldest dinosaur fossil anywhere in the world. Unfortunately, the park did not live up to our expectations. Instead of finding dinosaur bones and fossils, we found ourselves in the middle of a dust storm in the desert with a couple of cool looking rocks to appreciate…hardly worth the two day’s and $100 worth of effort we put into the endeavor. To add insult to injury, all the fossils (not just some) had been removed to an archaeological museum.

And then there are the times when you make assumptions you shouldn’t. A few days ago we left Salta headed south for Cafayate, the beginning of Argentina’s wine country. While the guidebook says there are buses continuing south from Cafayate, it doesn’t say the times. We assumed that three a day meant, morning, afternoon and night, so when we arrived in Cafayate we expected to be able to take an afternoon bus the next day south to Tucuman giving us the morning to tour some nearby ruins. Wrong again. The three buses to Tucuman were 2am, 6am and 6pm, we had to take the 6am to get to our next stop in time.

But surprises are part of what makes travel, travel. If everything always went right then we’d be without some of our best (and worst) memories. On that very trip to Ischigualasto, we found ourselves in a hostel with no other guests. The owner warned us that there was a party that evening for the staff and that we were welcome to attend if we didn’t mind a bit of noise once we hit the sack. The noise didn’t bother us, neither did the unlimited supply of home-made pizza nor the bottle of wine provided to us that once finished….was replaced!

Filed Under: Argentina, Headline, South America Tagged With: guidebooks, stuck, transportation

Cusco to the Amazon…

September 21, 2009 By Jillian

Having spent nearly 5 weeks in Peru, it was time to move on to Bolivia and get value from our expensive, but justified visas. Arriving on an overnight bus from Cusco headed towards La Paz, we arrived at the border prepared for a fight.  Rumors abound that even with the visa, the Bolivian border is not an easy crossing for Americans.  Arriving at the Bolivian Immigration office, the first official didn’t know how to handle our visas. Groaning we luckily found another immigration official who set the first one straight. Without so much as a hint of a n “extra payment” we crossed easily into Bolivia.

Having saved the Amazon until Bolivia, we were anxious to get there as soon as possible. Unfortunately it is an 18 hour bus journey from La Paz to the jungle.  No one said the jungle was easy to get to!

Weighed down with so much cargo, we inched our way north out of La Paz. The highest capital in the world, La Paz (3500m) is actually in a canyon, so our little bus had to slowly climb out of the canyon before heading on to the jungle. Cut into the mountains, the asphalt road was barely wide enough for a lane in each direction.  Unable to see what was certainly a sheer cliff next to us and pulling out all of our warm clothes, we tried to focus on anything else but the road.

And then the asphalt ended.

Bumping along a curvy dirt road in the dark I couldn’t keep my mind off the Bolivian bus warnings in our guidebook. No wonder, to let someone pass going the other direction our driver had to back the bus up over the cliff to give them space. Sitting in the backseat of the bus we looked behind us into the abyss praying the driver knew exactly where the tires were in relation to the road. As if the situation couldn’t get any worse we drove into a terrible thunderstorm. Bounced our of our seats so high we actually got air, we eventually somehow fell into a fitful sleep. Arriving the next morning in Rurrenbanque, 36 hours after leaving Cusco, we checked into a hotel and then marched ourselves to the regional airline office. Sometimes you just have to say enough is enough.

Booking ourselves on a return flight to La Paz, we were shocked the following day when our tour stopped at the airport to pick up two more travelers. A grass airstrip, often out of service for rain/fog/humidity you name it, the 19 seater from La Paz landed with a hard thud followed by the squeal of breaks. As “baggage” claim rolled the cart across the grass we looked at each other and smiled. The jungle is never easy to get to.

By the end of our jungle tour we had met five other people who had taken the bus from La Paz, and not a single one wanted to return via bus. As we crossed the grass airstrip to get into the plane, with no security check what so ever, I felt like I was on a movie set of the jungle. Could this be real? Climbing into the plane we took the first two seats and as the pilot shut the cabin door and triple checked that the handle was locked I steadied myself for what would probably be the bumpiest take off of my life. Finally we were in the air and just as my nerves calmed down an Australian from a few seats back yelled to me to look out the window. Turning my head I looked what can only be described as face to face, with the summit of a snow capped mountain. Wow. Sure beat the bumpy bus in the middle of a thunderstorm!

Lesson learned though, never underestimate jungle transportation!

Filed Under: Bolivia, South America Tagged With: jungle, transportation

Tica Bus- Central America

July 4, 2009 By Jillian

We have taken two trips with Ticabus, we will not be taking anymore.

On the first trip, from Honduras to Nicaragua, the ayudante (helper) collected $11 from each passenger for border fees. We were told the fees were $8 to Nicaragua and an additional $3 to exit Honduras. We had already exited Honduras on our own and had never paid to exit so we decided to handle the border ourselves; we paid $7 to Nicaragua and nothing to Honduras. The ayudante pocketed $4 from each passenger and then had the nerve to yell at us for taking too long…we took only two minutes but needed to wait until the officials finished processing all of the bus’s passports.

On the second trip, from Panama to Costa Rica, we left the terminal at 11pm expecting to wake up at the border when it opened. We arrived there two hours early. Why leave at 11pm only to wake everyone up at 5am to wait for two hours? Additionally, as this was an overnight bus we were shocked to find no toilet paper or water in the bathroom. The water problem was particularly surprising as when we woke up at the border we found that all our things (on the overhead shelf and by our feet) had been soaked by water from the A/C. We have taken many overnight buses and all have had a fully functioning bathroom with no flooding inside the bus.

In Central America, there are often no other direct buses between capital cities. When there is competition however, we strongly recommend using it.  Say no to Tica Bus!

Filed Under: Central America, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Operators, Panama, Reviews Tagged With: transportation

Baja Ferries La Paz- Topolombampo

March 24, 2009 By Jillian

The trip across the Sea of Cortez from La Paz with Baja Ferries was simple and pleasant. We had been warned to arrive at the ferry early and to be prepared for extensive security searches (Baja is an entry point for a large quantity of drugs headed into Mexico and the USA) however this did not materialize for us no the other passengers without cars. We were ushered onto the ferry quickly and found a comfortable place to sit for the 6 hour journey.[ad#final-review-ad]

The ferry itself was much larger than I expected as it was once a cruise ship. While the ship had been renovated for use as a ferry, the passenger area still reflected its past with a disco, theater, restaurants, gift shops, and lobby area. For our comfort several movies were played and we were able to roam around freely as though it was a cruise. For an additional fee, a private cabin could be rented although this was hardly necessary for our afternoon trip; had we been traveling in the reverse direction we may have considered this but given the amount of space on the boat it still would not have been necessary.

The biggest negative point I have to make is that the ferry is extremely expensive. At three times the rate of a comparable first class bus ride (without driving a car aboard) the ferry should have a variety of amenities beyond the bus but at its base it is merely another form of transportation. Still, it is the cheapest and most direct way from Baja to mainland Mexico.

In total the trip lasted just over 6 hours and save for watching a group of Mexican truck drivers giggle while watching Shrek, was uneventful. Upon arrival in Topolobambo the bus was easy enough to locate and charged 30 pesos for the trip to Los Mochis. Arriving in Los Mochis at 11pm was not problematic at all.

Filed Under: Mexico, Reviews Tagged With: baja, ferry, transportation

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