The Bus to Ushuaia

Here's the thing about Patagonia - it's big. Really really big.

It's also really quite empty. The majority of the place is either taken up by fields and fields of non-arable pampas grass, or fields and fields of grazing land for sheep and cows. Actual towns or cities are spread far and wide, and there ain't much to do in the space between. The upshot is - a lot of bus travel. For example: the bus from Puerto Madryn to Ushuaia...

After our penguin and killer whale experiences, the next port of call was some 10,000km away in the southernmost city in the world. There was no direct bus, so we needed to get a 20 hour bus to Rio Gallegos, overnight there, then grab a further 14 hour bus down to Ushuaia. Ow.

Now to be fair, the only thing that can keep such long haul bus journeys interesting is a good book, a gameboy and huge quantities of food. Therefore we stocked up on empanadas, steak sandwiches, cookies, etc. before leaving and the first part of our journey finished comfortably and uneventfully.

For the second leg we did the same. However, what we didn't realise was, despite starting and ending in Argentina, the route from Rio Gallegos to Ushuaia actually passes through Chile for a bit. What we also didn't realise was (until we boarded the bus at 8.45am) that it is illegal to bring any kind of fruit, vegetables, fish, meat, eggs, dairy products or in fact any type of food whatsoever across the border. The bus was due to reach Chile at 9.30 giving us precisely 45 minutes to eat: 1 bag of salad, 1 tin of peaches, 1 large salami, 1 avocado, 5 tomatoes, 1 packet of cookies, 6 bread roles and 7 (yes 7) apples. Oh and they also gave us breakfast...

I managed four apples and one tomato before feeling really ill (not a great effort I admit, but in my defense it was early in the morning and I was still half asleep). Liz managed just one apple. We soon realised we were never going to get through everything, so started to hide food surreptitiously around the bus. If the items were found we could deny all knowledge.

Sure enough, when we got to the border we were ordered off the bus while it was searched. The wait was nerve wracking - particularly as the officials kept exiting the bus carrying huge binliners full of contraband items. Eventually we were let back on but didn't dare check our hiding places until the bus started moving again and the border was out of sight. The outcome? Almost everything remained in tact. Yes!!!!!! The only things we lost were the breakfast croissants the bus company gave us. We are now officially international smugglers.