BUS RIDE FROM HELL (Buenos Aires to Mendoza)

We had heard from everyone and every source that the way to travel in Argentina is by Bus. We had even taken a short day trip previously on a "Semi-Cama" coach bus for a 2hr trip – and, it was very comfortable and reliable. So, of course, when we planned our Departure from Buenos Aires to Chile, our chosen method of transportation was by Bus. And, because it was a very long trip to Chile – 19-20hrs – on the way to Chile due West from Buenos Aires, we planned to stop over for two nights and visit the famed Argentina Wine Region of Mendoza, which is only supposed to be 11-12hrs by Bus. So we booked our bus tickets on the reputed top bus line, in the top 1st Class Executive Sleeper (cost about US$75/pp), and boarded at 7:45pm (Thurs. 2/5) to enjoy the ride, with scheduled arrival the next morning at 8:30am. Seats were comfy leather, full reclining, with Stereo music jacks, TV Monitors which played 2 Movies (Rush Hour 1 &2), and were even served a hot meal with wine. All was well until about 2am, when we felt the bus slowing down to what appeared to be about 30mph on a 4-lane express Tollway, with other vehicles flying by us at 60-70mph. The bus would also pull over about every 20-30mins., when it would die out, the driver would open the engine compartment and play back there for 5-10mins., and restart bus, resuming our slow pace. This continued through the night, until about 6am, when it pulled over and died out completely. Information was hard to come by, but we were told a substitute bus was going to come for us in about "an hour". In the interim they tried to repair our bus – we were finally told it was due to ‘bad gas’ which water had gotten into. Naturally, this turned into 3.5hrs, and the substitute bus was an economy class that had not even been cleaned, and was like a pigsty. But, at least we were moving again at a normal pace (albeit now about 7-8hrs behind schedule). After about an hour of travel, we pulled over to the side of the road again and the bus engine was shut off. Now what? After awhile we were told that we had to wait for another bus behind us experiencing same problems, and let their passengers transfer to our bus. So waited another hour until they arrived. Of course, there were not enough seats, and probably a dozen people had to stand or sit in the aisle. What a zoo. After another couple of hours, the bus stopped again. We were not told why at first or how long it would be stopped. Finally, they explained it was to get sandwiches for everyone – but, nobody really wanted this preferring to get to Mendoza sooner rather than later. This stop was almost another ½ hour. We finally arrived at Mendoza at about 6:30pm on Friday – an 11hr 1st class bus ride had turned into a 23hr prison ride. It was quite an experience. But a little good news – as we were leaving the terminal and almost out the door to a Taxi, one of the girls on our bus grabbed me and said they were giving refunds at the bus office. Yup, miraculously after a little bit of bureaucratic rigmarole, we were given a FULL REFUND. Not that we would have traded that for the incredibly uncomfortable lengthy torment of a bus ride, but it was some consolation. But, sometimes you just have to "Grin and Bear it"; as this is part of the 'cultural experience". LOL