Route 40!

 

Argentina’s legendary Ruta 40, is one of the world’s great driving adventures, running parallel to the Andes Mountains for nearly 5,000 km. The southern portion of the route is most famous, highlighted by the 1,400 km stretch through Patagonia from El Calafate to the the Lake District in Bariloche.

We decided to embark on this road trip with the boys and booked a 25 hour! bus drive.!! The road is now mostly paved but still very remote, passing through sparsely populated areas and frontier towns that few tourists see.. 

The bus departed in the early evening so we made sure we brought enough empanada’s, water, nuts and fruit to keep us going for a day… We had no idea how the boys would feel but we were confident that it would be a positive experience. Once you do a journey like this in one of the most remote parts in the world, you can tackle anything! A skill for life!

Once we departed El Calafate, we felt quite excited to embark on such a long journey. The boys had their music to listen to, a few books and of course other passengers to chat to…

Ruta 40 is most remote on the long stretch through Argentina’s Chubut and Santa Cruz provinces. Our first stop was in El Chalten, here we needed to do a 180 km detour from the main road to pick up some other passengers. A group of backpackers joined the boys in the back of the bus. A few guys were supporters of Real Madrid and that gave the boys ample time to chat about. I enjoyed the beautiful scenery….. You could still see the glaciers in the far distance… Miguel listened to music and soon we were both sharing the same headset and watching the landscape passing by.

The terrain is dominated by wide-open Patagonian steps. We noticed the powerful winds which made the bus at times get off the stretch of scarce pavement and while the sun began to set and it became darker, I got more a sensation of adventure than ever before. We were with a group of people crossing a very remote part in the world… What if the bus would break down? Would we have enough food? Not to think about the temperature! But soon, those thoughts went as I began to feel tired.. The boys were asleep and Miguel’s head was resting on my shoulder…

I woke up early and saw the first few rays of sunlight peeping through the small curtain. Miguel woke up a few minutes after and we didn’t say much. The view left us speechless. The light and colours were just out of this world! I still remember this moment. So intense! A moment of solitude…although together. Very precious…It made me think of the travels Miguel and I both did together, exactly 19 years ago. The two of us then set off on a journey to reach Australia from Madrid over land, and here we are now with our boys crossing South America!

When Guido woke up he was in disbelief. ” Mum, are we still in the same place?”. Of course to him the landscape looked still the same and the truth is, it was! There was hardly any change. Still the rough, dry steps and endless views. No car, no animal, no nothing to be seen….When he asked me how long more, I had to confess another 16 hours…although that would turn out to be more….

On our next stop for some tea and a toilet stop in a small town, we were told that the AC system didn’t work properly and so we would be a “little” delayed. We were fine with that as it allowed us to stretch our legs and walk around. I remembered how dusty the roads were and the wind so cold. But the ” little” delay turned out to be 3 hours and by the time we got on to the bus, I was happy to move on but worried as we would arrive in Bariloche three hours later. Which meant around mid night!!!

The boys were refreshed but for how long? Also, I realised that at our next stop we needed to buy some more snacks as we were likely to have another “dinner” in the bus!

After a long 10 more hours of reading, chatting and napping, listening to music, we finally saw the landscape change. Small bushes of green and river valleys..Once we entered the historic town of Esquel, I knew we were not far away anymore. The road became much better and when the sun was setting, we felt we were back in civilisation. The last stretch was in plane darkness, the boys tired but hopeful we were almost there. We did one more stop in El Bolson and at 11pm we reached Bariloche.

And then we were left to our devices. The last ones at the bus station. It was raining, cold and we all longed for a bed to sleep on. We managed to get two taxis to our family hostal in the centre of town. We were welcomed by the son of the owner. The boys were too tired and went straight to bed. I wanted a hot shower first. Once in bed, I couldn’t believe we had made it. And I felt so proud of my boys. No single complaint! I love my bunch of three! X