2 Day Bus Ride

We left El Chalten at 9am and boarded a bus with Chalten Travel for the highly dreaded 2 day trip along Route 40 (a semi-paved, semi-gravel road) to El Bolson. We were prepared: charged Ipods, food, books, etc. The bus was like a Greyhound, with seats that reclined maybe 35 degrees, no AC but fans, and no bathroom. We stopped about every 2-4 hours for a 15 minute break and finally rolled into Perito Moreno around 9pm where we would be spending the night at the Belgrano ¨Hotel¨. I put hotel in quotes because I have never before seen a hotel that has dorms. Ours did. And they weren´t so pretty. But what was even more of a let down was the town - a seedy, one street area, kept alive by what must be people who need somewhere to spend the night on the journey. The second day was equally long, but we managed with reading, playing a lot of angry birds, and just listening to music. We arrived in El Bolson, renouned as Argentina´s hippy and artesian beer capital, around 6pm, dropped our stuff at the hostel, took showers, and headed into town for Jed´s birthday.... downing wine, regional trout, and later, huge ice creams in celebration.