LAN LANPASS - "Plan B" (surface) BUE-USH in case of ash?

Plan A has us flying AEP-USH in mid December to meet an Antarctic cruise, arriving at least a day in advance. Given the not-infrequent ash issues (affecting BUE mostly?) I'm trying to accumulate a list of Plan B's that we can quickly fall back on if necessary. Input from the regional experts will be very much appreciated.

We'll arrive EZE (from GRU) around 14:00 on 15 December and must be in USH for a 20 December (late morning?) departure.

If, when we arrive EZE, we find reasonable certainty of clear skies for the next several days, we'll head over to LSC for a look at the telescope array up the road from there, returning to BUE on the 18th and departing AEP at ~04:30 on the 19th.

If good flying is not predicted but the ash cloud still hasn't shut down AEP, we'll try to head south asap. Failing that, what next? Are there fast boats down the coast? There seems to be a bus so there must be a road. Is there a private van/bus service that might provide a couple of drivers to spell each other to hasten the trip? Public or charter (reliable) air service that would use equipment/flight levels that would avoid the ash cloud?

Thanks...

John

If the ash cloud kicks up no planes will be flying. The only alternative I know of are the buses which on the bright side are set up with fully flat beds like a business class flight but on the not so bright side would take you two days to get from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia. It is a lot a farther than you might imagine.
On the other hand based on the past month it is FAR more likely that you will NOT have any ash problems and your flight will depart and arrive more or less on time.
AKAIK there has only been ONE day in all of November...on the 10th when ash caused flight cancellations in Argentina.

Bus to Rio Gallegos should be easy though tiring. Getting across the water to Tierra del Fuego may be an issue though. There "must" be local flights that will do that run.

I...snip...
AKAIK there has only been ONE day in all of November...on the 10th when ash caused flight cancellations in Argentina.

I have no quarrel with that statement, but the situation du jour seems quite different in Montevideo, a scant 125 miles from BUE (story dated 27 Nov):

"MONTEVIDEO (AFP) - Ash from Chile's Puyehue volcano caused flight delays and cancelations Saturday out of Uruguay after a week of frustrations for air travelers here, officials said. Flights to and from Buenos Aires were scrapped due to the danger while international flights by Spanish flag carrier Iberia to and from Madrid faced heavy delays as authorities assessed the risks from the ash cloud. Since the volcano's eruption on June 4, air travel in much of the southern cone of South America, and as far away as Australia, has been periodically disrupted by ash clouds streaming east out of the Chilean Andes."

and from three days earlier, the 24th:

"Flights have been delayed and canceled in Uruguay for a second day in a row due to volcanic ash from the eruption of the Puyehue volcano in Chile.
....
Chile's National Geology and Mining Service said that ashes from the Puyehue - which continues belching, though at a lower intensity - could affect air travel for months."

The press does look for the most dramatic pictures to spice its stories, and we certainly hope to be able to enjoy your clear-skies prediction, but I'm glad to hear of that biz-class bus. I had visions of being strapped atop a third-world heap along with crates of chickens.