El Calafate

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We flew on a bumpy flight from Ushuaia. The winds were throwing the MD-80 around. There were a few on the flight that were a bit unhappy but both Scott and I just go for a ride. There is not much to El Calafate, gateway to Perito Moreno Glacier, except for business offering support to tourists. At the airport we inquired at the Hertz counter about moving up our rental to a day earlier. It turns out that it was a smart move as we ended up getting a free ride into town from the airport, which was 23 kms away. It was the first time on this trip we have rented a car. We rented it for just 24 hours as our plan was to go to the glacier the next morning and then hop on a bus to Puerto Natales. As soon as we had the car in our possession we headed to the bus station to buy tickets. Our bus would leave the next day at 5:30 pm arriving around 10 pm in Puerto Natales.
We spent the afternoon touring a bird sanctuary trying to get a close up of the flamingos. We never did get very close. I think of flamingos as warm weather birds but they proved me wrong. The bird sanctuary is just a 45 minute trail around a small lake, with some viewing blinds set up.
Our hostel, name I can not remember but was a HI member, was once again apartment like and huge. They also served breakfast to us in the room which is nice when you are packing up.

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