This crappy bus is 20 minutes late and the wind is making it hard to stand over the luggage. The tin roof on the track bleachers is flapping ominously in the gale force winds. The last 2 days in Pucon, since Kay and I summited Villarrica in perfect weather, have been incredible windy. The strong wind from Argentina is called, La Puelcha and it is muy fuerte.
Justin and I are leaving the place we have called home for the last 11 days to make our way to San Martin De Los Andes, a town that is similar to Pucon. Small and picturesque nestled amongst volcanoes and the rugged Andean mountains. The excitement of a new country is late to set in, as I still feel wonderfully overwhelming feeling from being in South America. Gustavo dropped us off at the bus station to wait in the wind and dust for this bus I now sit on.
With a heavily sugared Nescafe, “naturally sweetened” here, in my hand the bus sits 10 blocks from the station as the driver and attendant try to get it started again. The engine roars alive from the driver crushing down on the gas pedal only to sputter off into silence again. 1, 2…8 times all with a slightly different intensity and feel of the driver attempting every thing he can think of. I am reminded that I am in South America. The 10th time the engine roars to life and settles into a nice idle. In gear and we are off to San Martin at 20km per hour, we celebrate when the driver shifts into 4th gear. This 8 hour bus is going to be late.
After it dies again, we go through the process again with the same result. Back on the road to 25km per hour is slowed by anything resembling an incline, straining the diesel engine and back to first gear we go along with our travel efficiency. After picking up more passengers the bus seems to be in even more dire condition with the added load. We eventually make it to a beautiful pull out on a snow laced mountain road. The restaurant serves hot cheese sandwiches, great for the first meal of the day at noon. The river runs full of pure Andean run off with a huge peak looming over the valley and a large Couloir looking made in Chamonix, France. In this beautiful place we get a fuel filter to fix our mechanical woes. It helps the idle but not the hills. We crawl up the dirt Andean pass to make our way to Argentina’s customs house.
Now in Argentina I curse myself for taking out 150,000 in Chilean pesos (approx $300USD) last night. Driving through San Martin De Los Andes I am searching for an ATM amongst the beautiful log cabin architecture. This place is as picturesque as they come. Our trip took an extra 2 hours, considering the buses problems this is not a bad outcome, and a wonderful South American experience to not see a single person complain. It shows how nice and wonderful the people of Chile and Argentina are.
There is a ski area here, of course, called Chapelco, with Justin fully jonesing to ski again (as am i) we will head there tomorrow, wind permitting.
<><>LTD
Matt/Todd
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