Seat 2A

The airport in Ezeiza is about 20 miles south of the city center and prices into town range from about $1.00 on the #86 bus (if you’ve got about an hour and a half to spare) to about $30.00 in a taxi. I took the middle road and headed over to the Manuel Tienda Leon Bus Company where a comfortable air-conditioned bus would get me into town for just $8.00 USD. Better yet, they would, at no extra charge, arrange for me to be taken from their downtown terminal directly to my desired destination, the giant Retiro Bus Station.

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Buenos Aires’ Retiro Bus Terminal is the world’s largest. Housed in a gigantic building that is over a quarter mile long, the station has slots or “platformas” for seventy-five busses. There are three floors – the top one is for ticket sales only, the middle one for shops, restaurants and departures and the lower floor for freight and baggage storage.

The entire top floor of this massive building is dedicated to ticket sales only. Think about that for a moment. Tickets are sold on both sides of the building so that’s almost a half-mile of ticket offices. I would guess there are about one hundred long distance bus companies operating out of Retiro.

Thankfully, ticket sales are grouped by geographical zones so if, like me, you were traveling to the northwestern provinces of Argentina, you’d head to a set area of numbered ticket booths and all the companies serving the northwest would be found there. This also means that a big national company like Andesmar might operate ticket counters in six or seven different parts of the terminal.

Before I continue any farther, I should emphasize just how important bus travel is to moving Argentineans around this long and wide country that they live in. Argentina is the world’s eighth largest country, stretching over two thousand miles from north to south and covering over 1.7 million square miles. About one third of Argentina’s 37 million inhabitants live in or within one hundred miles of Buenos Aires. Although the majority of the population centers are found in the northern half of the country, the far south is well served by both planes and busses as well.

Like many countries, air travel was historically very expensive in Argentina. Trains handled most of the transportation needs in the early twentieth century but, as the highway infrastructure was slowly improved over the past fifty years, busses began to play a larger role in the country’s transportation needs. As for the railroads, old equipment and poorly maintained rail beds along with disgruntled and demoralized employees contributed to slower trains and unreliable service. Meanwhile, just across the border in Brazil, some of the world’s finest busses were being produced and marketed throughout the region.

Many people, when thinking of Latin American busses, envision an old school bus, garishly painted with dingle balls and crosses decorating the top of the windshield, packed from the roof to the last row of seats with all manner of humanity, farm animals and assorted baggage and farm implements. Of course, none of these busses would be complete without the little statuette of Our Lady of Guadelupe mounted upon the dashboard to assist in the safe completion of the journey. Once upon a time that type of bus was more common than not in most rural areas. Some examples still exist today in extremely rural areas as well as most any Rainbow gathering.

The modern long-distance inter-city busses serving Argentina, Chile and Brazil are very likely the finest of their type in the world. Certainly they are far superior in comfort and amenities to anything I’ve ever seen or ridden on in America, Europe, Australia or Africa. Above all else, for the Argentines who have suffered through more economic turmoil than most of us will likely ever know in our lifetimes, these busses represent affordable, comfortable and reliable inter-city transport at about one fourth the cost of taking the plane.

Just how nice are these busses? Let’s compare for a moment with the finest examples in America and Australia, both of which I’ve ridden recently. American and Australian busses, operated by companies like Greyhound and McCafferty’s, uniformly offer four across seating, arranged 2-2. Seat pitch would be about 32” with minimal recline. Televisions are generally available for movie viewing but as there are no headphones, the entire bus is forced to at least listen to whatever film is playing. Onboard toilet facilities are available, as is air conditioning and stops are made along the way at appropriate mealtimes. All things considered, America and Australia offer decent service aboard pretty nice busses.

In Argentina, three different levels of service are available on most major inter-city markets. All long distance busses offer air-conditioning, water and toilet facilities.

Servicio Comun: Four across, 2-2 seating. Many of these busses also offer television.

Semi-Cama: Four across, 2-2 seating but much-improved seats with deeper padding, leg rests and much greater recline. Seat pitch is about 43”. Movies and music channels are standard, and some companies offer headphones. Hot or cold meals and/or snack services are generally offered on longer trips. A bus Attendant is on board for all services.

Coche Cama: For those who don’t know Spanish, cama means bed. This service offers three across, 1-2 seating. The seats are wide, deep and plushly upholstered, about the same as a 767 First Class domestic seat but with more padding. Seat pitch is about 50”. The recline is about the same as the original First Class sleeper seats of the 1970s and 80s. Blankets and good quality pillows are provided. Movies and music channels are standard, as are headphones. Hot or cold meals and snack services are always offered on longer trips, along with wines and cocktails. A bus Attendant is on board for all services.

Finally, some routes are beginning to see an improved version of Coche Cama called Cama Suite. The services and amenities are the same as Servicio Cama with the main difference being that the seats recline to a full 180 degrees.

Without a doubt, bus travel has been elevated to an art form down here in southern South America. Even though I could very easily afford plane travel given the current exchange rate, I do enjoy a quality travel experience, not to mention all the beautiful Argentinean countryside I’d not get to see were I taking the plane. So – let’s switch now from the runway to the highway. I’m sure I’ll enjoy the ride.


*** ***** ***

The title of this Trip Report says I’m headed for Ushuaia, down at the bottom of South America. My present destination of Salta is located up on the Tropic of Capricorn, not too far south of the Bolivian border. Why am I heading north then? Oh, you know me – or at least those of you who’ve actually managed to read my Trip Reports from start to finish in years past do. I’ve always liked getting there every bit as much being there, so I rather prefer taking the long way wherever possible.

One of my favorite travel related quotes describes my approach, indeed my passion, perfectly:


So – off to Salta it is then. I’d done some investigation on the Internet, but even then I had no idea how many bus companies there were in Argentina, especially serving the Northeast. Books like lonely Planet and sites like Virtual Tourist named only two companies offering service between BA and Salta. When I arrived at the terminal, I was prepared to take a direct bus to Salta with a company called Nuevo Chevallier. Coche Cama seats all the way to Salta, a distance of 800 miles, were priced at just $125.00 Pesos, or about $43.00 USD. No way I was going to travel in anything less. Not at such affordable prices! It was Saturday night and I felt reasonably confident that I wouldn’t have much problem finding a Coche Cama seat up to Salta or Tucuman, a large city just four hours south of Salta.

I was wrong.

I had no problem finding the ticket offices serving the Northeast Region. They were just to my right as I entered the building. At the Chevallier counter however, I was informed that there were no more Coche Cama seats available for today. A later bus would be offering Semi-Cama service though.

Thanks, but no thanks. I’ll keep checking. The time was about 7:15pm when I began my search and over the next three or four companies that I visited, I was shocked and dismayed to discover that the company either didn’t offer Coche Cama or the bus that did had already departed. There were still a few more offices, so the search continued. If I didn’t find a bus tonight, I’d get a hotel and head up tomorrow as I’d already been assured by a couple of companies that seats were available then. Finally, I arrived at a company called Flecha Bus. It was 7:30pm.

“Are there any Coche Cama seats up to Salta, tonight?” I asked the pretty young lady working the counter. “Not directly”, she replied, “but we can take you to Tucuman where you’ll have a three-hour layover and then connect to another bus to Salta, arriving at 4:30pm. It’s Coche Cama to Tucuman and Semi-Cama to Salta.”

Yes!!! My heart soared as I grabbed for my wallet and hollered “Sign me up!”. Actually, it was nothing quite that dramatic, but serotonin levels did rise perceptibly and what I really said was closer to “Qué Bueno! Vendame uno asiento, por favor!” At the same time, I noticed a poster on the back wall depicting a big, wide comfortable 180-degree flat seat called “Premier Suite”.

“Perdoneme,” I asked, “but is that Premier Suite Service available on the bus to Tucuman?”
“It is.” she replied. Would I rather one of those seats?
“How much will it cost?” I asked.
“$148.00 Pesos” she replied. Wow! That was only about $30.00 Pesos or about $10.00 USD more then the Coche Cama service.

Moments later, I was in possession of a ticket granting me passage aboard the finest bus travel experience money could buy in Argentina, or at least on the Buenos Aires - Tucuman route. Total cost for this eighteen hour journey, including the Semi-Cama seat between Tucuman and Salta came to just $58.00 USD. By contrast, the cheapest airline seat I could find on the Internet priced out at about $120.00. It didn’t leave until the next morning. Had I opted to take the Semi-Cama service to Salta, I could have gotten there for about $35.00.

My bus to Tucuman was scheduled to depart at 8:00pm which left me about fifteen minutes to make my way down to the second level, buy a couple of bottles of water and find my bus. Interestingly, my Tucuman bus was not assigned a specific departure platform. Instead, I was told that the bus would be departing from somewhere between platforms 55 to 70. Out on the platforms, the scene was chaotic with lots of people milling around, looking for busses, waiting for busses, smoking, etc. Inside the terminal it was equally crowded. By the time I’d located platforms 55 – 70, it was 7:52pm.

The first Flecha Bus I saw was headed for Mar del Plata, a popular resort destination on the Atlantic Coast five hours south of Buenos Aires. I passed three more Flecha busses before I even knew they were from that company. As I soon discovered, no two Flecha Busses are painted alike. At least the title FLECHA BUS was emblazoned billboard style across the side of each bus. I kept walking. By now it was 7:54pm and time was running short. What if my Tucuman bus had a sign in the window showing a different destination than Tucuman and just happened to stop at Tucuman along the way? Not likely, I thought, since the next city of any consequence beyond Tucuman would be Salta or Jujuy. Finally, at 7:55 I found my Tucuman bus. The driver was standing at the door downstairs having a cigarette and chatting with one of the passengers. When I showed up, he collected my ticket, then called a baggage handler who promptly threw my pack in the big cargo hold at the rear of the bus and then demanded a tip.

“Tip!” he said.
“Huh?” said I, not sure if I understood him correctly. “Propina” is the Spanish word for a tip.
“Tip!” he repeated, and actually held out his hand.
Outside of the movies, I’d never seen such a brazen request for a tip. I reached into my pocket and handed him a Peso, the equivalent of $0.34 cents. He seemed pleased and scurried off to his next job.

Finally free of my pack’s encumbrance, I grabbed my daypack and headed back to the bus entrance. It was finally time to board the bus equivalent of a First Class suite on a British Airways 747. Let’s do it!