Buenos Aires, Argentina

We made it safely to Buenos Aires after a very very long bus ride from La Paz (53 hours). Our morning in Bolivia started off with cold eggs and stale bread. We made our way to the bus station where we found out that the tickets we bought the previous day did not include transportation from La Paz to the border, which was frustrating. We were given tickets with another (extremely disorganized) bus company called 2 de Febrero. After much confusion (passengers screaming and yelling), we sat down in a very dirty, dilapitated old bus and began our journey to the border town of Villazon (what a nightmare). Shortly after getting on the bus, we obtained three pieces of information that we found to be quite interesting. 1-There was no ventilation in the bus and we couldn't open any windows. 2-There were no meals included (as we were originally told). 3-Conveniently, there was no bathroom (and we both had diarrhea). The funny part was that it was a 20-hour ride to the border. After four or five hours into the drive, the bus suddenly changed direction, and squealed into a farmer's field. We roared through dirt and debris down a some sort of path that sort of looked like a road (we're still not really sure). We spent at least two hours in this field as we came across many obstacles. We got off the bus to lighten the overall load of the vehicle to cross makeshift bridges, we bottomed-out a few times in holes that swallowed the wheels of the bus, and at one point everyone was involved with the construction of a bridge where the road seemed to suddenly disappear. We finally got back onto a reasonably good road and noticed that we had only detoured through the field to bypass a small town. We're not sure what the intention was maybe they were trying to avoid a check point or something. We spent the night trying to sleep as the bus rampaged down very rough switchbacks and were given a chance to go to the bathroom at approximately 3:00AM on the side of a cliff. We made it to the small border town of Villazon at 8:00AM. We retrieved our bags from the bus, and they were completely covered in dust and dirt (great). At the bus terminal, much more confusion awaited us. Supposedly, the bus company had over booked the bus and a handful of people we're required to take another the next day (luckily we were able to catch our connection that morning). Everyone was assigned new seats and there was a tremendous amount of confusion and discontent amongst the passengers (people were very grumpy). We finally got our bags and seats sorted out and drove two blocks to the Argentinian border. We spent four hours standing in the rain waiting for our passports to be stamped. We also had to get all of our bags back off of the bus, so that the police could root through all of our belongings (in the rain). We got back on the bus and were finally served a meal (after 28 hours with no food - actually, we had water and a few Goronzo chocolate bars from a desolate gas station back in Bolivia). We drove for another six hours to catch another connecting bus in Argentina (this is where the story completely changes). On this third bus, we were assigned luxury leather seats, that completely reclined to make a bed, we were served meals, there was air circulation/ventilation, and they even had wine. We couldn't believe the contrast. We spent the remaining 24 hours on this bus, sleeping and eating, reading and enjoying the scenery. We arrived in Buenos Aires around 5:00PM on Sunday, February 24th. We took a cab into San Telmo (main downtown area), found a hostal, and got drunk. (We will keep you posted with regards to how things unfold in Buenos Aires).