Bingo Bus and Buenos Aires - Day 6/7

After recovering from the stomach bug, we were debating if the 14 hour bus ride to Buenos Aires would be a good idea. But realizing flights would be over $300 and you could not get a refund for the bus tickets, we sucked it up and prepared ourself for the Bingo Bus.

After reading about the fancy busses on many other blogs, we were both really excited about this part of the trip. We ended up going with Andesmar - really great reputation in Argentina had to splurge on the "primera clase suite" - first class. The tickets were about $95 each with food/beverages.

We got to the bus station in Mendoza, and found our platform - 28 out of 90 platforms. Turns out Mendoza is a very busy transit station. We could have hopped on a bus to Chile, Peru, Uruguay, or other destinations. Our chariot pulled up which was a double decker bus. We checked in our luggage and headed up stairs to our "suite". The seats were very plush - about what you would find in first class on a plane. They laid flat fully, and had a in seat entertainment unit - something that was great to keep you entertained for the 14 hour bus ride.

We left bang on time at 7pm and headed east on ruta 7 straight to Buenos Aires. About an hour in, the world famous Bingo started. Jesus (our bus attendant) handed out the bingo cards - the first person to fill their cards won a bottle of wine. He started to announce the numbers (it was a great review in Spanish and numbers) and we waited in anticipation to see if our numbers were called. After 15 minutes in, someone shouted "Bingo Andesmar" and won the bottle of wine. Bingo was definitely all it was cracked up to be. Then we were served dinner - two courses, one was cold and the other was hot. Wine was served with the meal, and then champagne was served after. Through the night, I watched a few movies and managed to get some sleep. In the morning, we got a small breakfast box with a choice of hot drink. The dulce de leche muffin was pretty good - might have to import those to the states.

We were very happy to had made it to Buenos Aires! We got off the bus and hailed a taxi to the hotel. This is my free hotel from the American Airlines sweepstakes, and it is amazing. We have a beautiful view of the river and Puerto Madero neighborhood. We immediately crashed when we arrived.

The rest of the afternoon we walked around Puerto Madero and had lunch at a really nice cafe. Looking forward to exploring more of Ba tomorrow! Adios!

Pictures:
Bus Station in Mendoza
My Bingo card
Jesus calling out the numbers
First course of dinner
Primera clase suite on the bingo bus
Puerto Madero on the river in Buenos Aires
View from the hotel in Buenos Aires
Puente de la Mujer Buenos Aires