Posts Tagged ‘transport’

As wonderful as Buenos Aires is, at some point you will want to escape for a few hours, if only for a change of scenery. Thankfully getting away from it is not difficult (or expensive) and there are some lovely spots worth a visit within in easy reach.

1. Tigre

Probably the most popular Porteño daytrip of all, Tigre is a must-see, even if you’re just in Buenos Aires for a few days. Situated on the delta of the river Paraná, the town is a gateway to hundreds of kilometres of navigable river, complete with restaurants, hotel, holiday complexes and entire neighbourhoods.

Numerous boats leave the Estacion Fluvial for a guided tour up the river, pointing out the main points of interest (including the house of former President Sarmiento, faithfully preserved in a huge glass box) along the way. The town is also host to an amusement park (Parque de la Costa) and an enormous, flashy casino if you like your pleasures a little more risky.

An easy hour-long train-ride from Buenos Aires (leaving from Retiro, but if you’re in Palermo get a taxi to the Lisandro del Torre station), a day in Tigre is a wonderful way to escape the heat of a Porteño summer.

2. La Plata

In 1880, when the decision was finally made to make Buenos Aires the capital of Argentina, a new site for the capital of the Province of Buenos Aires had to be found. It was decided to build a new city from scratch about 50km from the new national capital.

The result, La Plata, is known as La Cuidad del Diagonal (the Diagonal City), due to the large tree-lined avenues that criss-cross the usual square block layout. La Plata is a pleasant place just to wander, with shops to rival Palermo’s finest and a beautiful central square, home to the striking Cathedral.

At the other end of the central thoroughfare are the Bosques de la Plata, a large and leafy park, complete with boating lake, Observatory and numerous museums.

It takes about 90 minutes to reach La Plata by train, leaving from Constitucion station.

3. Luján

Hop on the number 57 from Plaza Italia and in just over an hour you’ll find yourself in Luján, the religious heart of Argentina. Home to a large neo-gothic Basilica (not unsimilar in design to the cathedral in La Plata), built to honour La Virgen de Luján, the Patron Saint of Argentina.

Known as the nation’s Capital of Faith, Luján attracts some 6 million pilgrims a year, many of them walking the 68 kilometres from Buenos Aires. Whilst the town itself is pleasant place to visit, and the Basilica is definitely worth a visit, a short taxi ride is recommended to nearby village Carlos Keen.

Once home to an important railway hub, the trains stopped a long time ago and made room for restaurants. Lots of them. Set round a large central green, people now flock here on Sunday for a generous portions of homemade food (asado being very popular of course) in a peaceful and rustic setting.

Luján is also home to a large and well-advertised zoo (about 10 minutes out of town). A trip here is not recommended for animal lovers, the enclosures are small and barren with more emphasis on entertainment at the creature’s expense than conservation. To be avoided.

4. Colonia

Colonia is a popular daytrip for many reasons, not least for expats who need to renew their 3-month tourist visa. A 3-hour ferry ride (Buquebus run several a day from their Retiro terminal, including a fast boat which does the trip in an hour) across the mighty River Plate, the Uruguayan town of Colonia del Sacramento is a well preserved Portuguese stronghold originally founded in 1680, with many of the original buildings still standing.

A tranquil place in the week, the picturesque and compact historic centre is overrun with daytripping Porteños on the weekends, it’s well worth the trip if you have a day spare. You could even venture to one of the estancias that surround the town for a traditional asado and cabalgata (horse ride).

With the impending arrival of Mummy and Daddy Gringo, I’ve been planning a couple of excursions. Until now, my travelling around Argentina and South America has involved very little planning, but on this occasion I’m making an exception and booking stuff up in advance – I want these few days to be a trip to remember for the right reasons, rather than knocking on hotel doors at 9 in the evening.

I’m looking forward to these trips (one to Iguazu, the other to Puerto Madryn) for two reasons. Firstly my parents have never been to South America, and I really want them to see a little bit of what I’ve experienced over the last couple of years and secondly, it means getting back on the road, if only for a short while.

But it has also reminded me of what a bloody enormous country Argentina is, and how my attitude to travel has changed. Buenos Aires to Puerto Madryn is 1442km (896 miles – just under the distance between London and Barcelona) and we’re going by coach. A couple of people have suggested I look at flights but to be honest I wouldn’t consider it. It may be cheaper (although unlikely) but I just don’t enjoy flying anymore. As soon as it stops being about the time, there really is no reason to fly. I could play the green card, according to this carbon footprint calculator, the bus journey accounts for 1/10th of the CO2 emissions the flight does. However, for me it’s more about the journey. There’s no more complicated reason than I enjoy it.

It sounds boring, sitting on a bus for 18 hours but I simply enjoy watching the world go by. Argentina is just full of scenery, and in Patagonia there is little else, miles and miles of nothing. It’s a great way to relax, switch off and let your mind go wherever little roads of its own it wants to go down. Now that I know I’m going to be doing it again, it makes realise how much I miss it.

The driving in Buenos Aires is not the worst in South America, but that’s not saying much. When I first came here from Europe travelling in a bus or taxi was one of the most terrifying (or exhilarating if you’ve had a bit to drink) experiences of my life. Traffic in London seems bad when you come from Dorset, then you drive in Paris and things back home seem tame. Go from Paris to Milan or Madrid and things start to get a bit more lively. Then you arrive in Buenos Aires and nothing you’ve seen or known before applies.

When I got back here from Colombia it actually seemed tame here compared to Bogota, but nonetheless things are hectic and I am constantly amazed that more serious accidents don’t occur. Simple things here have always puzzled me like why nobody takes the blindest bit of notice of the lanes. There may be 4 painted on the road but there will be 6 cars lined up as you cross. Indicators have no link to reality. Ever. In fact it is not uncommon to see cars or driving along indicating right for 2 blocks, then the indicator stops and the car goes left.

Last week any puzzlement I may have had about why these basics are ignored was finally cleared up. Talking to some colleagues from Argentina and Holland, we were discussing the process in each country to get a driving licence. Myself and the Dutch guy talked about 15 hour long driving lessons, 30 minutes one-on-one driving tests, theory tests, the works. We then asked the Argentinian about the test here. “Test?” he answered,  “I turned up on my own in my car, he made me reverse into a parking space, showed me one road sign and asked me what it meant, gave me the psychological test and got me to draw a house, a person and a tree, checked my eyesight and that was it, handed me my licence and I drove off again in my car, which wasn’t even insured.”

So there you have it, nobody here drives like they know what they are doing, because in actual fact they don’t know what they are doing.

If there’s one way of impressing somebody who has never been to South America before, it’s by saying, “Oh I’m going to such and such tomorrow, it’s a 20 hour bus ride”. To someone who has been here before then all you’ll get is an unsympathetic nod and a change of subject, but to the uninitiated you will a short pause while their mind assimilates what you’ve just said and then a gasp of horror. “20 HOURS?!” they will squeak, while you nod with the unbearable smugness of the seasoned traveller.

So, this is for all you who have never had the pleasure of dealing with the terms Cama and Semi-Cama, to whom Andesmar and Crucero del Norte sound like beach resorts. Firstly, let’s be clear about this, if you’re travelling round Argentina (let alone other South American countries) on any sort of budget, you WILL encounter at least one 12+ hour bus trip. There are planes, but they’re expensive and  don’t always go where you want to go. Which leaves the bus. Forget trains, I’m aware of one train line that could be considered an inter-city line here in Argentina, and trust me they ain’t 2 cities you’d want to go to. Plus it’s slower than a bus,

So, you’re stuck with a bus. You bravely head to Retiro bus station in Buenos Aires to buy your ticket. This is where the problems start. There are intergalactic spaceship docking stations smaller than Retiro. This place can take over 100 double-decker buses at a time, is always full of people you’re convinced want to steal your bags (or your kidneys) and it’s bloody chaos. Upstairs is the ticket section, which is not a simple question of walking up to a desk and asking in your shabby Spanish for a ticket to El Culo del Mundo. You first have to figure out which company goes there and then ask each one if they have a bus on the day you want to go. Most of them don’t. Eventually you find one that does and then they ask you what class you want. Class? On a bus?

Well yes, there are 3, and within that varying levels of food and drink service. To keep it simple there is Semi-Cama (cama is spanish for bed) which is the cheapest and gives a fairly standard coach seat which reclines about halfway. Then there is cama, which despite the name is still a reclining seat, but reclines more and is wider (3 across the bus) and at the top of the tree there is Ejecutivo or First Class which is the same width as Cama, but the seat goes all the way down to make a flat bed. Pretty much all 3 classes feed you, although alcohol usually only comes with Cama and Ejecutivo.

I’ve tried all 3 and have come to the following conclusion. Even if it means waiting in El Culo del Mundo for another 3 days, I ain’t ever going Semi-Cama again. The recline is not bad, but of course the idiot in front of you reclines too which limits your personal space to a very small tube and sleeping just is not an option. Plus people reclining in front of me inspires sheer hatred in me. Not the picture of reasonableness I know, but in my mind, it’s one step away from child abuse. Cama is better and is an option, although the person reclining in front of you is still a problem. Which brings us to Ejecutivo which, in my humble opinion is the ONLY way to go. Each seat is cocooned in its own space (a suite is the marketing term) therefore nobody can impinge on your space. And you have a bed. A flat one. It’s wonderful.

This has been on my mind a lot recently as yesterday I took my first 20 hour trip (from Buenos Aires to Bariloche in Patagonia), and I stumped up the extra 50 pesos (£10) to go flat. Now, 20 hours on a bus is still 20 hours regardless of the shape of your seat, but by God is it easier when you do it in comfort. For a start you spend the first hour playing with the recline button, thinking, this IS a comfy seat. So only 19 hours left. Then you have to get to grips with the lie flat mechanism and make your bed. Luckily they tell you how:

The result is something like this (although it does actually go flatter – this is just chillin’ mode)

Pretty good huh? However, even this little marvel of modern engineering cannot compensate for the sheer size of and boredom induced by crossing the Argentinian pampas. However, given that you have no choice in this, I know where I’d rather be…

South Americans are not quiet people. The streets are filled with a mixture of shouting, traffic, the thud of a reggaeton track booming from a passing car, sirens and of course, the incessant beeping of car horns.

When I lived in Europe and drove regularly, I have very little memory of using the horn in my car. My first car had a very weak, pathetic beep, more of a parp really, so I tended to avoid it. Plus, horns just aren’t really used much and when they are, people tend to pay attention.

South America (and Colombia in particular) is different. In the 5 minutes I’ve sat here writing this I have heard the honking of a car horn 17 times (honestly, I counted). Oh, make that 18. Once I’d noticed this, I tried to figure out in which circumstances they are used, and more importantly, why?

The Impatient Honk – we’ve all been there – sitting in traffic, the lights ahead turn green, yet the car in front just decides to sit there. At least, that’s what it looks like. So, rather than patiently wait for whatever encumbrance is snarling things up to clear, honk. For 5 seconds. Things don’t move (incredible – how can this be? Can’t they hear the honking?), so honk again. And again. Until persistence and hard work pays off and things start moving again.

The Blocked Honk – linked to the Impatient Horn, except this time driving down a narrow one-way street and the large 4×4 2 cars ahead has stopped. The driver is chatting to someone on the pavement, and ain’t moving. Honks break out until, after 2 minutes the 4×4 reluctantly says bye to his friend and moves on.

The Hola Honk – driving along with the Reggaeton blaring, windows down, arm out the window and a friend is spotted. HONK! Wave arm, shout unintelligibly, make bizarre handsignal meaning “I’ll do something else another time”. Continue driving. An alternative version ends in the driver swerving across the road to talk to the friend and to a  Blocked Honk scenario.

The Transport Honk – this honk was new to me, yet is very prevalent in Ecuador and Colombia. Picture the scene, little ole you is walking innocently down the street, or stood on a street corner when cars, buses, taxis and motorbikes all start honking their horns as they drive past you. At first you don’t notice, then you ignore it, then you look up and see the driver looking at YOU. They’re honking at me! But why? Very simply, you are a pedestrian, they offer transport and you might want a lift for which they get paid. Only you didn’t know it until they kindly honked at you to remind you of how bad a job your feet are doing.

The Coming Through Honk – you know that scene in the film where there is a car chase through a shopping mall and the driver of the chased and out of control car constantly and desperately honks his horn to warn shoppers to get the fuck out of the way? That’s this one transferred to the public highways of South America. Often linked to application of blinking hazard lights for no apparent reason and overtaking on the inside.

The Cos I Can Honk – if the driver has been unlucky enough to avoid any of the above situations for the previous 3 minutes, then he’ll just honk anyway. Cos He Can.

So, keep an eye out for all of the above and if you come across any new ones let me know!

I’ve already written about the fun and games that trying to figure out the cross-country bus system can entail. Now back in Buenos Aires I realise that this is nothing compared to the shenanigans you have to go through to work out the city bus system. Inasmuch as it is a system, which I am seriously not sure about. Yesterday I started voluntary work helping out at an after-hours school club for kids in the Barracas barrio in the southern part of Buenos Aires, more of which later. However, before I could start I obviously needed to get there. I had an address, I know where I live so that’s the A and B sorted, how hard could figuring out the middle bit be? I know where to start, I needed the trusty Guia “T”, the Buenos Aires version of the A to Z which also contains bus information, so I toddled down to the nearest Kiosco and scored myself one. Here it is:

Open it up and it has a nice plan of the city:

This is where it starts getting interesting. So, you’ve found where you live, Point A and you can find where you need to go, Point B. How to get there. The left hand page gives you the bus lines that pass through the corresponding square on the right hand page. In my case I have buses 12, 29, 39, 68, 92, 111, 128, 152, 188 & 194 going through the square that I live in. Somewhere in that square, containing 10 or so 100 metre square blocks. Those lines stop somewhere in there. not much help, but a start. So then you look at the square you want to go to, for where I need to be we have 10, 12, 17, 22, 24, 39, 46, 51, 60, 70, 74, 93, 98, 102, 129 & 168. So with a bit of cross-referencing I now know that lines 12 and 39 go from where I am to where I want to be. Easy.

But each square on the map is roughly 1 square kilometre. So where does the bus go from? To figure that out more investigation is needed.

Each bus line has an entry in the back which lists the streets it goes down on both the out and return legs. Out and return from where? That’s a good question one which I haven’t really figured out yet, particularly as the start and finish points are usually areas I have never heard of. So you have to scan the roads looking for one you recognise. Which can take a while, and I’ve  lived here 4 months, God knows what you would do if you were new to the place. So you have to check that the line goes down the right roads, otherwise you may end up having a 10 minute walk either side of the journey. And you’d better hope that the line you need doesn’t have different routes. The page on the left in the  picture above is for one bus line, the 60 which has something like 15 different routes, luckily I don’t have to catch that one as I do not have the degree in astrophysics and geometry that I would need to work that one out.

So, in the end I figured out that I could walk to Avenida Santa Fe and take the 12 there, but not back as it takes a different route, but the 102 would drop me outside my house (but doesn’t take me there). A worthwhile half hour spent.
However, that’s not all of course. Next you have to figure out exactly where the stop on Santa Fe is, and that’s simply a question of walking down the street till you see the  miniscule P12 sign hidden in a tree. And once you’ve done that, how much the trip will cost you is a different issue altogether. Not to mention actually having the right change (only coins accepted) to pay for it, which is harder than it sounds as shops jealously guard their stocks of coins and will avoid giving you them in your change at all costs.

And then of course, there’s the small matter of actually surviving the bus ride (to this day I have not worked out how one minute you’re 5 lanes from the pavement in solid traffic and 20 seconds later the bus stops at the pavement to let people off without seeming to change lanes) and figuring out exactly where you need to get off once you get there..

The times in this might seem a bit weird, I wrote all this at different times, some of it on the bus, some it afterwards so it’s a bit jumbled, so you’ll have to bear with me…

After a couple of weeks travelling round the Lake District, I decided it was time to head down to Patagonia proper. The Patagonia of legend, land of glaciers, the steppes, the sheep. I arrived back in Bariloche (5^th visit to the bus station there in 2 weeks) last night, treated myself to a nice proper hotel and then went to the travel agency to arrange transport down to El Chalten, “The Trekking Capital of Argentina” and got me a 2 day tour leaving this morning at 6:45 (so that nice fancy hotel was really worth it for the 3 bloody hours sleep I got…)

But why a Travel Agency? Why can’t I just hop on one of Argentina’s wonderful, modern, comfortable buses? Well I could but it would mean 28 hours to Rio Gallegos which is a large fishing port and not much else on the Atlantic Coast and then doglegging back 350k to El Chalten. So I ain’t doing that, plus I wanted to do the alternative which is to go down Ruta 40. Which, I had been told is what proper travellers. Well, proper travellers actually hitch down it, but given that only 3 cars an hour pass, I’m on a bus with 8 others trundling down the asphalt of Ruta 40 on the way to our much awaited lunch stop. We left at 7am, it’s now 1pm and we have been through 3 towns.

I am finding it really hard to grasp the concept of how empty this country is. Get out of Buenos Aires Province where the best part of half the 40 million inhabitants live and it’s 8 times bigger than France. The trip down to El Chalten is 820k today (700k asphalt, rest gravel) and 650k tomorrow (all gravel) and we go through 2 towns big enough to have accommodation. However, driving through it is an experience in itself, simple because the lack of anything becomes the thing you’re looking at. Moving south the landscape gets progressively flatter. After a while it becomes hypnotic and you stop asking yourself “Who lives here? What do they do?” (answers are Hardly Anybody and Not Very Much) and just stare. It’s incredible. Approaching Perito Merono where we spent the first night we drove for over an hour through an area so flat nothing could be seen on the horizon in any direction. I wasn’t in Montana but this really was Big Sky Country. Was I imagining it or could I see the curve of the earth?

Day 2 started at a more reasonable hour, 10:30. The first stop was a couple of hours later after 125k of gravel road in a town called Baja Caracoles. I never really got why one patch of desolate scrubland was the place to set up a town compared to all the other patches of desolate scrubland, but maybe somebody just got tired one day and decided to stop. There’s so much to say about a place like that, somewhere so alien, about the whole experience and my head was at the same time full of thoughts yet I’m incapable of writing them down. I did however write this into my notebook at some point in the day. At least I think this is what I wrote, it was kinda bumpy.

The fact there is nothing is the point. Why else do it? Nothing, but you’re moving, making progress. Moving on with your life but with nothing else around, nothing to distract. Nothing else is moving apart from you. It’s not about seeing, it’s about being. Here you have no choice but to be. There are no thoughts to be had, no decisions to be made, no revelations to be experienced. Just being. In the middle of everything. Now.

Deep huh? Looking back on it does nicely sum the day up. At one point a fellow traveller (from an small northern European country, that’s all I’ll say) on the bus had been into the little shop run by a very friendly lady, came out and all she could do was moan about the prices of the sandwiches. There we were 80 miles from anything, these people literally scratching a living out of the dust and all she could do was moan. Kinda ruined the moment for me. But overall an unforgettable day.

Six things I learnt in Paraguay

1. Chickens and ducks like mangoes
2. If you try to get out of Paraguay without an entry stamp in your passport they fine you 363,000 Guaranis (about $90). If you tell them the bus on the way in didn’t stop at Customs, makes no difference
3. It is possible to fit a family of 4 on a motorbike
4. “Haku” (could be spelt wrong) means “Bugger me it’s hot” in Guarani. Used it a lot.
5. You can buy fireworks from a little fella that comes on the bus
6. Paraguayans think facial hair means you’re either angry or sad

Am back in Argentina, which honestly feels like a bit of a relief. Paraguay was certainly different and 5 days was just about enough. Enough of standing on buses, which I’ve done a lot of, but did meet some great people, and have certainly seem some things I never thought I’d see. I’m not quite back in Buenos Aires yet, had to stay an extra night in the Argentine town just across the border from Paraguay as couldn’t get on a bus until tonight, but will be back by mid-morning tomorrow. Really kind of looking forward to it..