The mythical Ruta 40

Ruta 40 is the lengthy highway that stretches along Argentina's western border, connecting southern Patagonia with the rest of the country. Guidebooks are apparently obligated to refer to it as "mythical," which in this case apparently means very, very long and unmaintained and poorly served by buses. Only one company provides any transport--one bus, on even numbered days only. We caught a bus out of El Chalten to Perito Moreno (the city, not the glacier or the man--see below.)

The ride was hot, dusty and 12 hours long, with unchanging views of flat, parched fields. The road consisted of a bumpy one lane dirt track, occasionally narrowing to two ruts. Our bathroomless bus made frequent pit stops, giving us a chance to enjoy the scenery at even greater length. The drivers also pulled the bus over for essentially anything that broke up the monotony of the landscape: a service station serving coffee and pie, a river, an armadillo. Our bus driver pulled over and leapt on the armadillo, holding it up for all the passengers to see and pet while the armadillo shit in terror. The ride finally, thankfully, ended in Perito Moreno, a city only marginally less desolate than the landscape that preceded it. -EMW