Woke in the dark (5.30) for the first time and made our way downstairs to an empty reception and breakfast area .........with no breakfast. A man appeared and advised breakfast did not start till 6.30 but said he had our details for payment. The invoice was $20,000 over the price stated when we arrived so we spent 15 minutes explaining that this was wrong and wondered whether this was why they didn’t do it the previous evening. I stood my ground with the clock ticking. At 10 minutes past our departure date he relented and we sped off on our bikes to the bus office and arrived at the same time as the bus! The bikes went in with no fuss and no payment. The bus company (Bus Sur) seemed very friendly, laid back and community spirited, stopping occasionally at Estancia (farm/ranch) entrance roads to pick up school children waiting with their parents. They either stood at the back of the bus or took any empty seats. I can’t imagine National Express doing the same in the Highlands of Scotland. The landscape was wildly beautiful with big skies, wooded hills and the occasional silhouette of a wind sculpted tree on the skyline. Where trees had been damaged by fire the blackened dead branches were smothered in luminous lichen. The estancias were mostly sheep farms (occasionally Alpaca) and the farmers looked quite well off with designer labels and new 4x4 trucks. The outskirts of Punta Arenas started about 25km from the centre with a large modern airport at 20km out. The outskirts appeared with wind- blown litter fluttering in bushes and fences. The centre was a mix of tin roofed timber structures and modern concrete and glass creations, it was nothing like we imagined. We were dropped on the street with our bags and found our way across the road to the office of the connecting bus copany and watched the expressions of horror and despair on the bus driver's face as he pulled up in a bus nearly full of people. John packed the bikes and bags for them after his removal and rearrangement of bags already in there. The bikes were coming with us no matter what this time. Once again, we were the object of fascination on the bus with a little boy and girl resting their heads on the arm of the seat opposite to get a good look. We were so boring they fell asleep in 10 minutes. There was a small smell issue with the toilet and the answer (as always seems to be the case in hotels, shops restaurants etc) was to disguise it with the nauseatingly intense squirt of apple air freshner. Every 30 minutes there was the dreaded ‘schhooch’ sound of the nozzle being depressed. The border crossing into Argentina was the most chaotic so far and we stood for 1 ½ hours whilst the bus driver went from window to window getting documents stamped until his ring binder bulged. There is always a lot of stamping documents and paperwork inspecting by smartly uniformed officers with trousers tucked into shiny black boots. When we eventually arrived at ‘the most boring town in Argentina’ (Andre quote from 3 weeks ago) we dashed straight to the bus office to book the next bus out. Unfortunately it was the following evening, but we did manage to get the last 2 seats! It started to rain as we cycled to the same Hosteria we stopped at the last time we were forced to stop overnight (when our bikes didn’t arrive) and no sooner had we reached for the fluffy white towels in our room than the rain started to fall torrentially. Our sedentary life over the past few weeks has had quite an impressive impact on our size. Clothes had to be squeezed on and now felt tight…..might be something to do with the daily ice creams, empanadas, dulce de leche spread on everything and 3 course meals?
Hotel Sehuen in Rio Gallegos
