Cama I just get to my hostel
Buenos Aires
The journey to Argentina began with an 18 hour slobber knocker of a bus from Puerto Iguazu to Buenos Aires. This was by far the longest bus we had to take so myself and Bar decided to treat ourselves to the infamous, unadulterated full cama experience. We heard so much about full cama. Full vertical recline, dinners, lunches, even the best champagne South American bus companies can offer. Truly paradise in bus form.
We placed our trust in Rio Uruguay (Mainly because that was the only one on Busbud). Cost us a cool €110. Worth it for such a long journey. So we got to the bus station in Puerto Iguazu (Pretty grubby station). The station was not exactly equipped with the latest technology and did not have the ticket printing machines we had become so accustomed to. When we presented the ticket office with a PDF of our tickets, we were greeted with a look of distain. The situation must of caused a high degree of stress, because the guy needed to pop out for a smoke before dealing with us. When he returned he asked for $ARS 5 to "print" our tickets. I use the word print in the loosest sense. He literally grabbed his BIC and scribbled something on two ticket sheets. Luckily I had some Argentinian pesos from our visit to Iguazu Falls but Barry 'Boomerang' Redmond had to hand over a whopping $BRL 2. Pretty sure the guy just pocketed this cash.
Tickets secured, we were ready to go. After chomping down a now customary ham and chee, complete with some added bacon flavoured Lays, we bumped into Nick. Nick was busy hustling every bus company at the station. Equipped with a crumpled piece of paper and a pen, you could see he meant business. A conversation with Nick crushed our full cama dreams. He managed to secure super cama for less than what we paid for full cama.
What the f**k is super cama!!!
Turns out it's super cama that gives you full recline, and even comes with curtain that revolves around your seat. Now thats how you bus!
So we knew we weren’t getting full recline seats, but to be fair, cama did not disappoint. Recline was decent, pillows and blankets were provided. Unlike other buses we had taken, this bus did not stop every two hours. It just kept going. Pretty sure they changed the driver at the bus depot halfway through. Instead of stopping for food we were provided with a dinner which arrived at around 11PM along with a cheeky glass of champagne. With belly full of food (and a cheeky sleeping pill) I nodded off.
Our bus terminal experience in Buenos Aires can only be described as an absolute shit show. Pretty sure we spent 2 hours there. Here's what happened... Of the 3 of us Cotsy is definitely the most organised and I guess over the first few weeks we got pretty used to having him around. So when we arrived at the bus station, we realised we didn't even know where the hostel was. We had no google map downloaded, no wifi and no Argentinian Pesos. So we came up with a plan. We would get some cash, purchase some wifi, and find out where the hell we needed to go. A simple, flawless plan.
Now I had read before on lonely planet that ATMs in Argentina can be few and far between, and they are not exactly stocked to the rafters with cash. We soon learned that lonely planet was not lying. We queued for 40 mins at the ATM. The queue was only 10 people long but as with everything in South America it moved slowly. When we eventually made our way to the front of the queue. The ATM had run out of cash.
Arse!
Apparently this was the only ATM in the whole bus terminal so we decided we would try to exchange some good old US dollar at the bank. Again this queue took forever and when we reached the top of the queue we were left disappointed. Foiled again! Getting desperate we rambled around the terminal and found an internet cafe. We tried chancing our arm, and attempted to exchange the cash there. To our surprise they did it. Now the cafe did get a pretty favourable rate but still, the money was in the bag! Cash secured, we got some wifi, found out where our hostel was, hopped in a taxi and $ARS 200 later we arrived at the Millhouse Hipo hostel.
Takeaways
- Super cama are the only buses in Argentina that provide full recline.
- If you want to get super cama treatment on the cheap, go to the bus station a day early and hustle.
- Be prepared when you arrive in a new country. Download the offline map of the new city on Google maps, know the directions and address of the hostel you are staying in, having some local currency can be useful.
- Search for flights. Sometimes flights can actually be cheaper than a bus. I made the mistake of searching for flights from Foz de Iguazu (Brazil side) to Buenos Aires. I should of searched for flights from Puerto Iguazu (Argentina side). International flights are expensive but domestic flights are a hell of a lot cheaper. I spoke to some people that only booked their flight 2 days in advance and only paid a little more than what I paid for the bus.
