When buying long distance bus tickets in Argentina foreigners have to show their passport. Leaving San Rafael with tickets already purchased we had to show our passports before they would even let us on the bus! The places we are hopping from and to, are very scenic but in between there are vast distances of dull scrub land with so few habitations - cycling here would be very challenging. It makes me wonder where on earth we would have stayed each night and eaten...

The buses here are very easy to use. The long distance ones are double deckers but the cities have an abundance of tree lined roads and are badly in need of pruning. Branches crash into the front of the top deck and scrape along the roof - the noise is worrying. We caught a local single decker today so no foliage problems. The driver though is writing tickets, taking money and searching for change, all whilst he is driving - will he or won't he see that parked ca...

We were undecided whether to skip or visit Las Lenas. It's Argentina's premier ski resort but is supposed to be a multi activity summer destination as well. We booked three nights' accommodation hoping to hike and horse ride. Before leaving Mendoza we were hoping to eat at one the many Steak BBQ restaurants but their doors don't open until 8.30pm and Donna has hunger tantrums around 7.00pm, so we just glared through the windows instead (after we had already eaten...

Before reading this blog, we must point out that we are on holiday and here to enjoy ourselves - honest! We caught the bus back up the road we came down from Chile - a four hour journey. The bus seemed to be struggling all the way, then with about 6 miles left to go to our stop the bus broke down (in the middle of nowhere). Some passengers decided to walk or try to hitch, we sat it out. About an hour and a half later a minibus arrived to complete the rest of our ...

We braved our first South American bus journey, only 7 hours and nothing to worry about. The bus was air conditioned, had a (clean) loo, we were given biscuits and juice and Donna said it was far better than the number 79 from west Brom to Darlo - the scenery was outstanding. We went up, up, uphill to 10,200 feet crossing the Andes into Argentina. The border crossing only took just over an hour, buses get priority, cars can take 5 and a half hours to clear custom...