No Bus to Chile

Vor ca. 1,5 h sind wir voller Freude zum Busbahnhof gelaufen, um unseren Bus nach Puerto Natales, Chile zu erreichen. Mit unserem Gutschein fuer unsere reservierten Tickets sind wir zum Ticketschalter gegangen ... doch die Busgesellschaft hatte uns auf keiner Liste! Keiner will Schuld haben und der naechste freie Bus geht voraussichtlich erst morgen Nachmittag. So haben wir zwar den Streik gut umschifft, doch nun sitzen wir im schlimmsten Fall 2 Tage hier in El Calafate fest und verlieren wertvolle Zeit von unserem 10-Tagestrek im Torres del Paine Nationalpark. Wir probieren jetzt noch einen Bus heute Nachmittag oder morgen Vormittag zu bekommen. Ob das klappt, wissen wir jedoch erst in 2-3 Stunden. Solange lassen wir uns die Sonne ins Gesicht scheinen und nutzen noch ein wenig Internetzeit ....

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So the strike is over but we are still stuck in El Calafate. We had reserved bus tickets for today to Puerto Natales more than a week ago but this morning at the bus station we were not on the list for the bus. Since everyone is now heading to Natales the buses are full! Our earliest confirmed option for a bus is at 4pm tomorrow which means that we lose 2 days here in El Calafate - 2 important backup days of the Torres del Paine Circuit. So currently we are checking out other options to get to Natales - or at least the Chilean border. We might have a chance with a 4pm bus today or with a 5.30am bus tomorrow morning - not confirmed though yet.

So a warning to all: Don't use the bus company COOTRA. They oversell the bus, are extremely unfriendly and do not have any interest in helping you - at all. We bought the ticket in the hostel and assume that Cootra bumped us of the bus for tickets that they were able to sell directly (without a commission to a mid-vendor).

Anyway, the sun is shining here and we will try to prepare as much for the trek as we can in El Calafate. The biggest problem though is food because you are not allowed to bring any fresh produce into Chile - and sometimes they even make a fuss with pasta or ready meals which are essential for trekking. So we do need to get to Natales for our supplies. Everything else we hope to do from here.