Blogs from El Calafate, Santa Cruz, Argentina, South America - page 14

Hi All, Hope you are all ok and not too red from all the sunshine in the UK! Anyhow, when I last wrote I was in El Calafate and updating you on our time in Ushuaia. So, now I need to tell you of the time in El Calafate starting from the fact that Brim and I had to get up at 4am in the morning in Ushuaia so we could head to the bus station for El Calafate. The journey went as follows, leave Ushuaia just before 5am on a bus to Rio Gallegos. Before reaching there however we have to stop at the Argentina border and cross into Chile. This border crossing takes one hour! It appears the computers were slow or just having an off day as the 4 tourists of the bus ... read more

We watched ¨Wolverine: The Origins¨in Buenos Aires for 20 pesos (2 quid each) which got me thinking of all the millions that Logan has made from selling the movies rights to his life and wondered what Prime Meridian´s might fetch... NAME: PRIME MERIDIAN BIRTHPLACE: Hammersmith, London BIRTHPLACE OF POWER: Greenwich Observatory, 00.00.01 past the Autumn Equinnox in 2004 after an alignment of stars so secret it has been continously protected by a line of great conquerors and explorers... Erik the Red, Constantine the Great, Christopher Columbus, Neil Armstrong and Michael Palin SUPERPOWERS: Ability to stop a stop watch on 00.00.01 Ability to locate Due North Ability to read alternative time e.g. knowing how long things will really take in foreign countries Ability to survive jet lag Ability to fly ACHILLES HEAL: Altitude sickness renders ability to ... read more

We arrived in El Calafate yesterday and left sunny and warm Buenos Aires behind for a few days. The plane ride was a bit turbulent but there was "no need to panic" as we were kindly informed by our captain. We landed on the tarmac and as soon as we set foot on the ground, Taruna and I thought that we would be blown away - El Viento Del Sur - that´s what the wind is called. It was also raining and quite cold - so it was a bit depressing (at least for me!), especially after Buenos Aires. The landscape reminds me of the Scottish Highlands, but El Calafate is so much more sparse and desolate, and the few trees that manage to grow here get an endless battering from the wind. We got to ... read more

Beck We arrived on a cold grey evening in El Calafate in the south of Argentina with our mission being to walk on the glacier. El Calafate is a small town with gravel roads that mostly resembles a building site but it exists to serve the tourist population and prices are of course linked to that so nothing came cheap. No fewer than 7 dogs accompanied us to Hostel I Keu Ken, including my personal favourite White Fang, who waited for me outside everywhere I went whilst in Calafate. Our hostel was cosy and we had a little cabin to cook our steak in and thank God lots of heating as it is FREEZING!!I felt nice and safe and warm and all the dogs guarded the door for me. The hostel staff recomeneded a trip for ... read more

We entered Argentina on the 18th of April and went to our first destination Calafate - still very far in the south... Calafate is the gate to the stunning glacier perito moreno - an unbelieveably big ice hunk ;) Really awesome is that there are ice rocks cracking loudly all the time and some of them are dropping into the lake - really spectacular. In Calafate we stayed in Hostel Coehue - it was great fun there. The lamb Leandro was cooking was great (and more than plenty ;). And for that they serve these nice sugar cane drinks ;). Jam sessions with Marco and Simon were great! All in all a great time there - thanks guys and girls for that! A 3 hours bus ride took me to El Chaltén for a day trip ... read more

So we arrived into El Calafate by plane, into an airport outside the town. We came outside expecting to see the real Patagonia, but all we saw was brown flat land everywhere. Not quiet what we were expecting. We headed into town and as we travelled a bit we began to see the high snow capped mountains in the distance. El Cal is basically a small tourist town living off the Moreno Glaciar attraction. But to the main reason for being here the Glaciars and especially Moreno, named after Perito Moreno a explorer goin back the ages. Went out to it on the second day in as part of guided tour to see the front faces of it and also to go trekking on the glaciar itself. It's pretty damn impressive when you see it, one ... read more