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Trip Start
Mar 01, 2006
1
328
551
Trip End
Dec 01, 2007
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El Chocon,
Argentina
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
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A few hours earlier I ended up with:
"Off to my bus now,we'll see if I can find a room tonight when I get in El Chocon"
I went to buy my bus ticket. The bus was going to El Chocon, but the machine refused to sell a ticket to there. The employee made a phone call, then gave me a ticket for the terminus, and off I went to take my bus, not sure I had understood th whole operation.
It was an ejecutivo cama. In the hierarchy of argentinian buses, there are semi-cama (comfortable airplane-like reclinable seats), then cama (very comfortable very reclinable seats, like in plane business class), and then executive cama (can become almost flat, as in a first class seat in a plane). The service upgrades with the seat class too: drinks, food, films,etc...
So I was in my ejecutivo cama, falling asleep. Then they offered sweets and drinks and started a crappy film that I could not help watching.
Then the bus attendant came and told me we had arrived. He did not look very comfortable, and I was the only one to get down, and everyone was giving me big looks. No need to see more, I had understood: they were leaving me on the side of the road.
I kept calm, took my bag, and the bus left. I was at a road junction. There were signs, lights, and that was about all. The sign on the bifurcation said I had 3 or 4 more kilometers to go... so I started walking.
Not that I minded. But why why WHYYYYY did nobody tell me anything? I am in bloody Argentina, not in some Asian rat hole. The guy who first told me that his company went to El Chocon, then the girl who sold me the ticket, then the bus attendant, and even the bus driver who crossed-checked, with a surprised look, that I was going to El Chocon... why did they not say "er, by the way, you know we are not going into town, we will leave you on the side of the road". That is what an Argentinian would do. And a Chilean even more. So why? I don't get it. And Neuquen is a modern and rich city as I said, nothing like if these people had never seen someone from somewhere else before....
Maybe I should get back into travelling habbits such as 1-trust only what you see and 2 -if you have to rely on others just ask ask ask and re-ask.
But that would be rude to Argentinians, just as it would be rude in western countries.
Well...
So there I was, on the side of the road, the sun had already gone down, I had maybe half an hour of crepuscule left. So I walked, fortunately the road was lit, that was a bit more reassuring.
Not too far away, was a sign showing a camera and indicating a "sight of interest". From the road I could see it clearly: a disproportioned statue of a large carnivorous dinosaur (T-rex type), painted in bright green and illuminated. I did not go to take the picture, I am sure I will regret it later.
A few cars passed by. I tried to hitch. The 5th slowed down, started to pull over, and then as he was going to stop 10meters further, hit the gaz again and drove away.
What the hell do they have today? Did I forget to remove my green hulkhide?
So I kept walking. The night came, the stars made the sky beautiful. I was walking on a totally dark road then, although I could see some lights in the direction I was following, and I could also see the lights of the road I had walked along, as well as the junction I had been dropped at, in the distance.
I arrived in El Chocon. Nothing like a normal town. I walked to the first house I saw, where a baker was doing his night cooking. He was very nice, and indicated me the "city center" where I might find a bed.
I was walking in rows of houses, small with big windows, all of them exactly the same. Families were eating inside. I was walking in small alleys, in an over-watered kind of little common garden. I was really wondering where I had landed, it looked like an experimental place where they brainwash people or carry out radioactive experiments on children...
The town kids were hanging out on the square, which was in fact just the area around the gymnasium, where others were playing volleyball.
I kept walking around, as I did not find anything.
Finally I asked around, the people were not from there. Asked again, I was given the number of the hosteria. I called. No more single rooms available, but a double, yes. For 195 pesos. Breakfast included. Arghhhh!!!! (195 pesos = 50 euros)
I thanked the people who had helped me, and went with the idea of asking to stay in some communal space, like the gymnasium.
I stopped at the small supermarket to buy dinner, as I was expecting the same kind of problem as for lodging: there is nowhere to eat in this town.
Finally I went to a camping. A guy was chilling out there, listening to music an drinking a beer. I told him I needed a tent, he went to talk with someone inside, and came back: The camping was 5 pesos.. the tent 25 pesos... and I had to built it myself... and it was a huge 6 person tent.
I said thanks, maybe, I will see, and went to another camping, where I found a cabana for 4 persons that I had to pay by myself.. but it was 40 pesos, so I took it.
That was a complicated day. But I could see the stars, the next morning promised to be beautiful...
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