La Pampas to Patagonia

The bus out of Junin was two hours late (the buses that are always on time – or so I was told) and we were left with little daylight to see the rest of the La Pampa’s.

The following day as I awoke it was apparent that Mother Nature had played a trick on me; gone were the grassy plains and fields of grain.  The La Pampa’s had given way to the sparsely populated (save the for the resort havens of Atlantic coast) barren land and sage brush of what is eastern plains of Patagonia.

The highway is a smooth two lane paved road, but there was little see; the desolation was “rampant”.  And so, for many miles I lost myself in the wisdom of John Grisham.

I would have like to have been traveling by car and had the luxury of stopping along way to explore these coastal cities; which even in the dark of night were unable to hide their beauty.

The entire region south of Las Pampas is known as Patagonia; in the east it begins as flat desolate plains and transcends into slightly rolling hills of continued desolation, before in Tierra del Fuego (“The End of the World”) it meets where the tail-end of the Andes surrenders itself to the sea.

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All buses are new and in excellent condition (or so I thought).  As we rolled into the night all was well, until we pulled to side of the road, still running, but this was not good.

It was cold, I was tired and so, undaunted by are present condition; I fell asleep.

I don’t know what woke me up (for sure no one bothered!), but when I woke up the bus was empty.  From my seat in the first row of the upper deck I could see another bus in front of us; with passengers busily scrambling aboard.  I rushed out of the bus and ran for the “salvation” of the rescuing bus – TOO LATE!  The bus was full!

“Calmly” I rushed to find the bus driver.  Again, I was told the bus full; after a moderate explosion, I realized that –  “#%*^ Happens” there was nothing left to do – and so, I laughed!

I was told that a mechanic was on his way.  Still doubtful, I nonetheless returned to the (somewhat) warmth of the bus.

They were correct, in less than thirty minutes we were on the road.

Laughter is great medicine!