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Published: March 9th 2012
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We knew the hostel had breakfast (which we have figured out is worth about $3 per person when comparing a hostel that has it to a hostel that doesn´t). But we had no idea the breakfast would be this amazing. Toast, yogurt, cereal, coffee, tea, cookies, JUICE!, the works. We have learned that when a hostel gives you breakfast, take all that you can. So after stuffing ourselves, we wrapped up the remaining toast and cookies and headed to the 8:00 am bus.
The bus, a large coach type of bus, led us East. We checked out of Chile at the boarder, drove a few kilometers, and checked in to Argentina. No cost! About 3 hours in to the bus ride, it got very hot and the driver didn´t feel like opening the windows or anything so the last 2 hours were quite uncomfortable, for Sarah especially, since she only had heavier clothes seeing as buses are usually freezing.
We made it to El Calafate. A very cool town. Very upscale. Outdoor gear shops everywhere. Everything very expensive. After trying about 4 ATMs, one finally worked and we were able to eat lunch. Pizza with an enormous amount of
cheese and a ham and cheese crepe! The food of the day gets better and better.
After enjoying the feast, we found our campground and set up shop. Its your typical KOA kind of organized campground right in town with a creek running through the middle. Very safe setup and lots of folks around.
We quickly figured out transportation to Glacier National Park the next day and had a few hours of daylight to check out the wildlife sanctuary near town. On the walk over we made a new friend, "Perra." Perra, a younger, more spry Kali (golden retriever) guided us to the sanctuary. There were signs and we had directions, but Perra led the way. She was a really sweet dog and seemed to watch over us as we walked. We arrived at the sanctuary after a quick 15 minute walk to a beautiful view over a small marsh leading in to a very large lake. There were flamingos and all kinds of birds hanging out. Sarah, Perra, and I walked along the construction zone (they are building a new foot path along the water) and took in the views.
After a bit, we sat down
Welcome to Argentina
maybe 2 kilometers after they stamped us out of Chile and relaxed. Perra wanted us to entertain her so she barked at us until we threw rocks in the water that she tried to retrieve. She was having a blast. As sunset approached, we walked back towards town. We passed by what we thought was Perra´s house...shoot...she wasn´t going back. Turns out she didn´t have a home and she had just adopted us. We walked around for a while hoping somebody would claim her. After all, she was a good dog that was trained (she could sit on command). She had to be somebody´s right? Turns out no and in a really really sad turn of events we eventually had to ditch her and hide out in a store while she ran back and forth across the entrance trying to find us. So sad. You get used to all the strays wandering around, but Perra was different. We hope somebody took her in.
We sadly made our way to the supermarket and picked up some bread, ham and cheese for dinner that night. We got OJ and bananas for breakfast the next day. Sarah gets excited when we can get OJ. It is nice to get some nutrition. We
finished out our feast of a day with some ham and cheese sandwiches on the picnic bench by our tent.
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Jill
non-member comment
1. Dogs are the number 1 cause of rabies down there. Stop making friends! 2. Perra translates to B***h. I hope you weren\'t yelling her name in the streets!