The BUS TRIP to Mendoza

These are pictures from the bus. If you look closely, you can see the white-capped mountains to the left of the road.

February 13, 2011

Today I arrived at my second home away from home. I am now living in a small town (including suburbs a mere million people) called Mendoza.

Though Buenos Aires was a beautiful European city, I was ready to move to the mountains and get away from the crowded city streets. And, quiet is just what I have now! The noises outside my window are birds, barking dogs and children playing instead of honking taxis, people laughing in bars until 6am and loud city streets, which is what I experienced from my high rise apartment!

Now, the bus ride here was a new experience for me. I wasn’t sure how the bus station worked so I got there an hour early. I had to wait until 15 min. before departure to see my bus appear on the big screen. Thankfully I met some people from Ireland while waiting and the time went by faster as I kept a close eye on my 3 overly-stuffed bags. I got on the bus and was a bit disappointed that they didn’t look at the bags at all to see what was in them….someone could have taken a knife, gun or anything on board and nobody would have ever known. =(

I should mention that I prayed for a good taxi driver to take me to the bus station and I had the best conversation with this driver who was so honest that he tried to undercharge me for the taxi ride and didn’t want to take the small tip I offered him.

So, as I got on the bus I realized that the guy at the ticket counter where I purchased my ticket hooked me up with seat #1 on the top deck of the bus so I could see everything, as he said! It was a great ride. Dinner was enough for a 400 pound man! They served me ham, cheese, breadsticks, a biscuit, mashed potatoes and fruit salad. THEN, they brought the main course of chicken fried chicken and stir fried veggies! Breakfast was interesting. Tea, a lemon pie snack bar, 3 pieces of dried toast with delicious peach marmalade, and a brownie! Wow, lots of sugar! I ate some Pringles to get another taste in my mouth!

That was a bad idea because that was the beginning of my Pringles addiction!