Day 103 : Trip to Bariloche

I didn’t realise there was a change in flight details until 2 days ago when I tried arranging for my airport transfer from the hostel to the airport, and the lady at the airport transfer office mentioned that it was impossible to fly to Bariloche, and that there was no flight with my departure timing on that day and suggested that I checked with the Aerolineas office a few blocks away.

It was then I was told that the airport in Bariloche is closed, and the flight will arrive into Esquel airport instead, which is located about 250km away from Bariloche.  From there, a bus will bring us to Bariloche. 

Reason for closure : Airport is closed for repairs as ashes from the volcano eruption in Chile in June this year has affected the airport, with ashes apparently still in the air. 

In fact just last weekend, flights to and from Buenos Aires were cancelled apparently because the ashes from the volcano had blown to Buenos Aires which is more than 1,000km away. 

It is reported that people in Buenos Aires noticed a layer of ash on cars and on the streets!  It is amazing how after 4 months, the ashes are still so prevalent in the air!

So instead of a 1.5 hour flight, I ended up spending about 9 hours in total from the time I left the hostel till the time I reached Bariloche!  And to think I decided to take a plane because I heard the travel time by bus was going to be extremely long, despite the fact that this was the most expensive air ticket of my entire Argentina flights. 

What I was not happy about was that I was not informed much earlier about the change in flight schedule.  The only notice I received from the airlines came in at 10.30am on the day of my flight (and the revised flight time was at 1.30pm!). 

If I had not arranged my airport transfer, I would end up panicking on getting to the airport!  It’s a wonder how much thought had gone behind in sending out the flight change notice. 

I was however surprised that there was a guide on the bus, which gave rather informative aspect of the various places we passed through from Esquel to Bariloche. 

But as I was not planning to have the additional 4 hour of bus travel, it felt long, and I was quite glad that I will be taking the bus rather than the plane when I leave Bariloche for Pucon in Chile!