http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from South America , Argentina , Santa Cruz en-us Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:41:16 BST Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:41:16 BST Ok ok......so it has been what....44 days since my last entry. Good grief. But with all fairness....I have been pretty busy I am going to start this blog with where the last one left off....but not all the way up to where I am now....that is coming..... So here it goes....We did as planned the next morning in Puerto Piramides. We watched a spectacular sunset and were gifted with an absolute http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Chalten/blog-286567.html Arriving hungover at the airport Flor has almost broken us into mental institution patients that can barely put a sentence together without dribbling we check in to our delayed flight not what we need. As we arrive in Patagonia we are immediately disappointed by our hotel. We had booked into an Independent Traveler tour with Gap Adventures which we believe no one should ever do The tou http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-278820.html Stop collaborate and listenIce is back with a brand new edition..... etc etcEnough of Vanilla Ice raps now I travelled down to the south of Argentina to visit one of the highlights of my trip the Perito Moreno Glacier. SO COOL Id seen photos of it before I went and they really dont do it any justice.The glacier is 30km long and the faces are 60m high. It is so big The glacier adva http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/Los-Glaciares-National-Park-/blog-277376.html We left El Bolson with heavy hearts as we had really taken to the place but we headed back on the road with our next destination in mind El Calafate and Los Glaciares National Park yippee However to get there we had to endure one of our longest and bumpiest journeys so far 46 hours down the infamous Routa 40 the longest road in Argentina which goes from south to north more than 5000 km. B http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-276201.html After my first visit about 6 weeks ago Rio Gallegos had made it onto the list of places that I didn't want to spend time in again. I should really dispense with this list ASAP because like with eating calafate berries in El Calafate or rubbing the toe of the Ona Indian on the monument to Magellan in Punta Arenas once a place ends up on the list I invariably end up visiting it again. In the ca http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/R-o-Gallegos/blog-274783.html Not a great start to the day. I'd forgotten to set the alarm and awoke 10 mins before we were due to be picked up. Fair to say I wasn't popular but the benefits of a low maintenance hair style was clear. Got ready in approximately 9.3916282 mins just in time for the bus. The bus however wasn't made by the Swiss and turned up over 2 hours later. By this time we'd at least grabbed some breakf http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/Perito-Moreno-Glacier/blog-272501.html Wow. I cant believe that I am FINALLY writing a blog in the present tense. Right now we are in Esquel after 49 hours of bus travel almost 15 hours of which was spent waiting in Comordo Rivadavia from 530am till 10pm. This was not much fun. We found a big mud and dirt escarpment behind the city that we walked to the top of. The city was in a very dry stark setting and with its dirt escarpments http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/blog-272302.html Day 206 Sunday 13 AprilHaving only had 4 hours sleep I had to get up as it was time to check out. I then proceeded to the bus station where I had a bus taking me to Rio Gallegos. I039m travelling to Ushuai the most southern city in the world but the bus leaves El Chalten at 4 in the morning. Rather than have a night of interupted sleep i039m going to spend the night in Rio Gallegos 4 ho http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/R-o-Gallegos/blog-270553.html So where have we been Well if you ask our feet they sure know as we have put them through some severe pain over the last 2 days. The weather here has been amazing and feel really lucky for this time of year as the season is almost at an end with most of the village closed down already. Theres a smorgasbord of trails to choose from all leaving directly from town thats a town on Patagonian scale. http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Chalten/blog-270321.html We beat the sun up this morning by a long shot. El Calafate is a remote and safe feeling town and from our Hostel it was an relaxing walk even in the dark. This was aided by Leannes ability to pick up a procession of not less than half a dozen stray dogs to usher us safely to the bus terminal. The 5hr drive here was amazing to say the least. We had perfect blue sky and views of the snow capped And http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Chalten/blog-269696.html Day 202 Wednesday 9 AprilThe heater on the bus last night hadn't worked and it had been absolutely freezing. I'd had to double drop on the valium.Sat on a bus all day theres not much to report. Passed some nice scenery and had a couple of hour stop in some desolate town in the middle of nowhere where everything was all shut up for the siesta and thats about it.Just after midnight the bus brie http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-269693.html The vast Patagonian planes seem to be monotonous without holding a lot yet no matter how long you stare at them they seem to have the strange ability to hold your attention. After several days of travelling the dead straight roads of Patagonia we knew there must be change on the horizon and oh how we were rightIn the distance we could see a small distraction which as we approached grew into the http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-269394.html We passed from the Argentinian lake district to the Chilean lake district with only a brief interuption by vigilant Chilean customs officials who found our fresh produce and confiscated eggs apples and half a cucumber. I think we were lucky with the weather on the Argentine side as by the time we reached the Chilean side it was like a true lake district grey bleak and chucking it down. The tent http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-268672.html Picture yourself in a boat on a river.. with tangerine trees and a marmalade sky....Ok ok so it was NOTHING like that. Actually picture exactly the opposite. Something like picture yourself on a crowded hot stinking bus with no air conditioning or suspension bumping along for two days over the rockiest unpaved dusty excuse for a national road you would NEVER want to imagine...And then y http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Chalten/blog-268063.html Our border hopping continued as we headed back to Argentina to visit the Moreno Glacier and then on to El Chalten to trek around the Fitzroy Mountains in the Los Glaciares National Park.We were staying in El Calafate and from here we took a day trip along one of the many bumpy roads to the Moreno glacier. Even though we had already seen 3 glaciers on our trip so far this one was the largest we http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/Los-Glaciares-National-Park-/blog-267374.html Hola todosSo its been an eventful week. Sorry this keyboard is a shockerWednesday 9th AprilWe were up at 5.45 and an hour later were sat on the Ruta 40 bus. Ruta 40 is the road that runs down into deepest darkest Patagonia and very little of it is paved so bring on 2 days of arse pain Fernando ourguide our should I say babysitter a nice lad proceeded to tell us all the info we didnt wa http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-266864.html Hola chicos y chicas Nick writing Nick y Rinske aqui slowly going native. Our latest adventures have taken us along the beaten path from Torres del Paine to El Chalten and the National Park of the Glaciers. El Chalten is a town with no ATM limited super markets expensive restaurants and accomodation much of it closing at this time of year.... and lots of dust. Yet it remains as one of the http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Chalten/blog-266117.html El CalafateBack to Argentina.......we arrived on Easter Sunday and what to all good catholic girls do on Easter Sunday Eat easter eggs of course. This place was full of yummy chocolate shops and of course it would be rude not to purchase. I did actually go to church as well it followed the same general pattern as in England except in Spanish to be expected. Other differences of note wer http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-265767.html Day 3 and an unexpected Day 4 in El CalafateWe arrived Sunday evening after a rather turbulent flight in to land at El Calafate after a short taxi ride on the 1 and only road from the airport we arrived at America del Sur Hostel teeming with excessively friendly rasta style guys running the place. Fortunately it was large clean and they served dinner and beer. We headed into town to get our be http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-264516.html Day 163 The long and snowy road through PatagoniaAfter a good night's sleep I woke up to find that there was indeed no water in the hostel which somewhat upset my plan to get a nice hot shower before leaving but unlike the rest of the city it wasn't the end of the world and it did mean that I couldn't wash up my breakfast things. I set off early and got to the airport in plenty of time full http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-264455.html El Chalten je mistem ktere by clovek nemel vynechat pri cestovani po Argentinske Patagonii. Je cilem tech kteri maji radi pesi turistiku ale hlavne horolezcu kteri sem prijizdeji pokorit vrchol Cerro Fitz Roy 3441 m. Je tady spousty obtiznejsich i mene obtiznejsich tur. My jsme si vyslapli dve. Jednu z oblibenych tur k Laguna Torre 10.4 km tam s mirny stoupanim za to na druhy den jsme si http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Chalten/blog-263435.html Do mesta El Calafate jsme se rozhodli zajet abychom odsud podnikli vylet k ledovci Perito Morenojednomu z mala pohybujicich se ledovcu na svete. Lezi v Argentinskem Narodnim Parku Los Glacieres. Ma 30 km na delku a jeho steny dosahuji v nekterych mistech az do vysky 60 m nad hladinu reky. Je to jediny ledovec na svete ktery taje a roste zarovenZvetsi se az o 2 m denne ale to take denne ztraci http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-263086.html El Calafate. Some people go straight here miss out on El Chlaten but there isnt as much to do here unless you just want to hang around to recouperate for a while. El Calafate is about 4 hours south of El Chalten but its a proper big town with loads of the normal tourist shops......which is kind of surprizing when you look at the crappy road that takes you there.But the big drawcard here is t http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-262507.html Amazing At the end of the road we ended up in a sleepy town that is growing into a major tourist hub by the minute. Theres nothing but construction everywhere with hostels hotels more restaurants going up all around. But if you saw the scenery what the locals wake up to every morning you would understand why Look in any direction the scenery is spectacular. Mount Fitzroy Cerro Torr http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Chalten/blog-262495.html La versione italiana segue quella italianaEl Chalten and El Calafate Trekkers HeavenDAY 9Woke up at some ungodly hour for our 13 hour glacier trek which was unfortunately not cancelled.Tried to eat some breakkie before and started our trek straight from the hostel up the hill at 6am.Still dark and noone talked much. Still sleeping I guess. We walked up hill for about 1.5hoursand finally rested http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Chalten/blog-262133.html After leaving El Chalten I returned to El Calafate for some muchneeded laundry. Handwashing is discouraged here yet laundry costs at least if done via the hostels are per load of 67kg rather than per item so for travellers like myself with limited clothing this is only good value for money if you wash pretty much everything at once. I had to wear shorts during this process as I had no ot http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/R-o-Gallegos/blog-262087.html English version below.Z El Calafate do El Chalten prowadzi legendarna droga nr 40. Biegnie przez zachodnia Patagonie i jest zwirowa co oznacza ze autobus wlecze sie i trzesie niemilosiernie . Na szczescie widoki rekompensuja niewygody podrozy.El Chalten jest sliczna wioska zalozona jakies 20 lat temu. Otoczone jest skalami na ktorych gniazda maja kondory. Moglismy je ogladac z relatywnie bliskie http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Chalten/blog-261681.html English version below. El Calafate polozone jest w zachodniej Patagonii. Tu spedzilam Swieta Wielkanocne choc niespecjalnie je odczulam. Populacja sklada sie glownie z turystow wiec lokalni byli bardziej skoncentrowani na dostarczaniu turystom rozrywek ktorzy tlumnie w tym czasie przybyli do El Calafate niz na organizowaniu procezji czy innych Wielkanocnych ceremonii. Wioska jest dosc przecietna http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-261630.html So we pit stopped in Buenos Aires on Tuesday the 18th for one day to wash clothes and repack for Spring Break. Now heres the thing we had reserved plane tickets for a 5hr flight to El Calafate which is at the tip of South America almost the end of the world But the day before we went to buy the tickets they raised the price and supposedly called us to inform us that they were raising the pri http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-261037.html The ride to El Chalten passed through more Patagonian steppe and alongside enormous windswept lakes with this time the animal life consisting mainly of guanacos one of several similar creatures residing on the continent also llama vicuna and alpaca that are sufficiently indistinguishable to my eye that I'll just pick a name at random if I have further cause to mention one. The sullen grey o http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Chalten/blog-260659.html