Off The Deep End

We left El Calafate at 3 AM on a 36 hour bus ride to Bariloche. The trip would actually take us south-east out of our way to Rio Gallegos before turning north along the coast. After about 24 hours the bus heads inland again back towards the Chilean border and the mountain towns of Esquel, Bolson, Bariloche, San Martin and then keeps going to Mendoza.
We slept, ate the food we brought, watched a series of increasing bad movies and watched the Patagonian steppe give way to desolate coastline and then awoke the last morning to mountains, lakes, rivers and forested slopes.
The buses here are quite nice, but still 36 hours is a long time to be stuck on the bus.