The Route 40 Bus: Not The Tourist Attraction Advertised

This description of the Route 40 bus ride was originally going to be part of the last post, but as I started writing it it took on a life of its own and needed its own post.

Route 40 is the longest highway in Argentina, over 5000km long. It’s an old highway, and there are still sections of it that are just dirt. It’s also the most direct route between El Chalten and our next stop of Bariloche. We tried to avoid taking it as we had heard it was long and uncomfortable. But the only other option was even longer and more expensive. So we ended up on the Route 40 bus which seems to be marketed as some kind of tourist activity. All the bus companies have shiny signs advertising their “Legendary Route 40” bus trips.

It’s not actually much of a fun activity, more like a shared-suffering experience. There’s no views or scenery, just dry scrubby bushes on flat plains as far as you can see. The ride was supposed to be 23 hours long (it ended up being 27 hours). We had heard good things about the buses in Argentina: big comfy seats that fully recline, hot meals with wine, good aircon/heating. The Route 40 bus was none of those. They must use the oldest buses in Argentina for this trip since the dirt road would ruin them pretty quickly. So we got seats that were small, leg rests that were broken, worn-out suspension and an air conditioning system that seemed to work best at blowing dust around.

We did get fed which was a relief. Dinner was two dried out pieces of bread, a slice of cheese and a slice of processed chicken, and a chocolate coated biscuit. We were glad that we were lucky enough to get chicken. Ham and cheese sandwiches are the standard free meal option in South America. You can’t escape them. You start to get nervous when you see that a “box lunch” is included in an activity. It it guaranteed to be a ham and cheese sandwich. They also gave us a serviette that seemed to be made of plastic, you just end up smearing the mess all over your face. What they should be doing is handing out the slices of bread to wipe your mouth after you’re done eating. They’re far more absorbent.

We actually slept surprisingly well through the night, maybe 4 hours of sleep. This was the bumpiest part of the trip so we must’ve been pretty tired to sleep through it. When morning came around we realised that during the night someone had abused the toilet and now the bus stank. There were still another 16 hours to go. Every now and again the dusty air conditioner would fire up and blow the stink away and replace it with a big cloud of dust. I would call that an improvement.

Breakfast was pretty basic; another chocolate coated biscuit. Healthy food obviously is a priority on these bus trips. When we finally made it to another town they told us to get off the bus to use the toilets and buy something at the bus station cafe. Not long after we got off the bus the driver shut the doors without saying anything and drove off. With all our bags still inside. We all watched it drive off and looked at each other wondering if it was going to come back.

It came back. About an hour later. It also didn’t stink so I guess they had cleaned the toilet while it was away. Then it was back on the bus for the second half of the trip. Not a whole lot happened in this section. There was more empty landscape, more dirt roads, more dust, and the bus kept stopping in the middle of nowhere for long periods. We’re pretty sure something in the bus kept breaking down. Which shouldn’t have been a surprise. Oh, and there was a ham & cheese sandwich for lunch. Luckily I still had trail mix left over from hiking and  Pedr, being a camel, didn’t need any food for lunch. So we managed to dodge that bullet.

We eventually pulled into our final stop of Bariloche at 11:00pm, a good 4 hours late. When we made it to our budget hostel (small, and no basics like soap), after 27 hours on the Route 40 bus it felt like we had arrived in a palace. The trip really makes you appreciate the little things in life, like sleeping, or eating real food.

All in all, the Route 40 bus doesn’t have any of the things you would expect from a “tourist experience” apart from being memorable. If you have to take it, bring something to read or do, or try and sleep through it all. It isn’t the worst bus in world, but it was nothing like the reputation of Argentinian buses. We heard that they were the most comfortable in the world.

We did finally get onto one of the good Argentinian buses when we left Bariloche, it’s actually the picture at the top of this post. The full picture is at the bottom. Look how happy Pedr is with all his space!