Mendoza to Salta: 2 near deaths experiences in 22 hrs!

I’m sure that everyone you meet will rave about the comfort and luxury of bus travel in Argentina. The seats are extremely comfortable and turn into 180 degree beds, food and snacks served to you throughout the trip, and if you’re lucky you even get wine and champagne. This comfort is due to VERY long bus trips that are often 15 hours or more (Argentina is roughly the size of India). I was super excited for the 17 hour bus journey from Mendoza to Salta. We had gone out to Mendoza’s nightclubs the night before (clubsdidn’t START until 3 AM) so I was exhausted and ready for a peaceful sleep on the bus. Sure enough, I was happily falling asleep at one of the stops when all the sudden I hear some people coughing. I’m trying to ignore them in order to fall asleep when the bus driver screams GET OFF THE BUS NOW! Within seconds everyone is coughing and unable to breathe due to an electrical fire on the bus. We all get down safely while they inspect the bus. 20 minutes later, they ask us to get back on the bus and I was terrified to burn alive on the way to Salta so I checked every emergency exit. However, within minutes I was sleeping like a baby. Somewhere around 4 a.m., I hear a loud explosion and the bus swerves off the road in the middle of the desert. I had my valuables in hand, ready to jump off the bus into safety because I was certain the engine had exploded and there was going to be a huge fire. Nope, it turns out the tire had conveniently exploded in the middle of the desert. I thought ‘great we’re going to be stuck here all night until it’s safe to change the tire during day light’. At that exact moment and to my great surprise, or perhaps horror, the bus got back on the highway driving without a tire, and tilting heavily to the left. No one seemed to confirm but was mentally preparing my self for the bus to topple over. I put on a jacket to protect myself from broken windows and got all my valuables together. We slowly drove to the nearest town ( a few HOURS) away and they fixed the tire. Luckily, we made it to Salta alive and only a few hours late. I can proudly say I survived a fire and a tire explosion in the middle of the desert!
This is by no means a typical bus trip in Argentina. I think it was just bad luck, Argentinean buses usually are excellent and luxurious.