http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from South America , Argentina , Santa Cruz , El Calafate en-us Sun, 03 Jan 2010 11:32:03 +0000 Sun, 03 Jan 2010 11:32:03 +0000 Na 30 uur reizen 3 vliegtuigen 1 bus door Buenos Aires en een stukje taxi waren we dan gisteren aangekomen in ons hostel in El Calefate. We zijn daar nog even het centrum ingeweest hebben daar een paar boodschappen gehaald en zijn vervolgens een paar uur gecrashed in onze kamer. Voor ons avondeten hadden we ons opgegeven voor de allyoucaneat BBQ die elke avond in het hostel hiervlakbij werd ge http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-463568.html Day 6 Our driver from yesterday has agreed to take us out to the famous Glacier Moreno. The drive takes about an hour and is well worth it. The paved highway is only 1 12 years old and was previously a gravel road. I thank God for the paved road because it is windy enough and with my tendency of motion sickness I do not need any encouragement to become ill. The driver is well informed of al http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-462723.html RUTA 40 19.21.12.2009BarilochePerito Moreno 823 km Perito MorenoEl Chalten 663 km ja El ChaltenEl Calafate 215 km. Yhteens miltei 1700 km kolmessa pivss.Patagoniaa ei ole vain yksi vaan ainakin kolme pohjoinen jrvialue aavikko ja Atlantin rannikkoalue. Miltei kaikista asioista olioista ja ilmiist maailmassa sanotaan ettei se ole vain yksi monoliitti vaan on olemassa monta Patago http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-462082.html Boat trip to the Glaciers today Upgraded to First Class WooHoo http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-461418.html We really wanted to see Perito Moreno whilst in South America one of the few glaciars in the world that is still moving. Therefore when we turned up in the little town of El Calafate and took a local bus to the National Park we werent disappointed. Its incredible 60 metres tall with a 5 km frontage. One long river of ice which left Jonty speechless possibly a rarer occurance than the http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-457216.html El Calafate is the small town from where everyone makes thir excursion to the Perito Moreno glacier one of the few still advancing in the World. We had a great day visiting the glacier seeing and often just hearing huge chunks of ice crashing into the lake. In the afternoon we spent two hours trekking on the ice which was a beautiful experience and ended with a whiskey on the rocks the r http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-456262.html OK No Bullets...From Fuetaleufu we ride straight back onto the dirt and ride some tough but lovely tracks to the start of the Carretera Austral. This is a largely dirt They are trying to tarmac it slowly road connecting the top of Chile to the bottom built by Augusto Pinochet's Chilean Army in the 70's and 80's. It was originally only there for the army but opened to the public in the late 19 http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-454673.html Another fantastic Patagonian experience this place is absolutley awesome The Perito Moreno glacier is massive in area its the same size as Buenos Aires gt250km2 the front face is 8km long and between 150m and 180m high 40m 60m above the water. Its also one of the few glaciers in the world to be still adding ice. It advances quite a lot 2m per day so is noisy and calves quite a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-446084.html hello again.this is slightly outdated but we have been with out a proper internet connection and most importantly without time. I'll give it a go and see what I can remember...We arrived in El calafate after yet another long bus trip at night. We found our hostel on top of a hill and relaxed with a beer and some cards. The next morning we looked out one of the many large windows and saw snow capp http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-442044.html There was a lot of debate whether or not we would attempt to get down to El Calafate. It's definitely not the easiest place to get to in Argentina. Our choices were a 36 hour bus ride with 4 different buses driving down a closed route 40 like in Motorcycle Diaries or a dodgy 2 hour flight. We opted to fly. We arrived in El Calafate around 2 in the afternoon and spotted some other back packers t http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-438171.html I arrived in El Calafate at 1pm on Monday 14 September and checked into iKeuKen hostel. I was in a 4 bed dorm but since the hostel was not busy I would have the room to myself for my 5 night stay. Late afternoon I walked around the small town and then went for lunchdinner in Casablanca where they were showing the final of the US Open tennis. This great match was won by the Argentinean del Po http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-437662.html We arrived in El Calafate after a spectacularly uninteresting overnight stay in Rio Gallegos which is a dull grey cold town. Given that the current president hails from there you would expect a bit of prosperity but it is clear he isn't doing his hometown any financial favours. We weren't sad to leave it. We were however frustrated at being so close a 15 hour bus trip is now considered clo http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-432769.html Tuesday 21st JulyWe looked out the window of our hostel in Puerto Madryn. The weather was starting to change for the worse the wind was picking up and the rain was getting heavier. We were starting to panic our taxi had still not arrived. It was now 6.25pm the bus station was 10 minutes away and our bus was due to leave at 6.40pm. C'mon we can't wait any longer yelled Gaston as he ran to t http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-428275.html Hola ChicosHello from the South of Argentina. Just sitting here in my five pounds a night hostel not far from the Glaciar Perito Moreno. Finding myself pretty relaxed I thought I would do a blog as its long overdue.There is already a lot to tell you about here in South America. We arrived in Chile on the 11th of July muchos worried about our lack of Spanish and out of our comfort zone fom NZ whe http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-413804.html Hi AllHope 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 http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-403999.html I can honestly say the journey up from Ushuaia is not one that I would care to repeat.After a wake up call at 4am Sharon and I both dressed and picked up our bags and head in the snow to the bus ldquodepotrdquo depot being a rough patch of ground on the promenade. A bus rolled up at 4.45am and by 4.50am we were on our way 10 minutes early however with large concern that we were on the wrong http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-403369.html We watched Wolverine The Originsin 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 Meridians might fetch... NAME PRIME MERIDIANBIRTHPLACE Hammersmith LondonBIRTHPLACE OF POWER Greenwich Observatory 00.00.01 past the Autumn Equinnox in 2004 after an alignment of stars s http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-397812.html Im so glad we didnt heed fellow travellerswarnings and skip our stay in the El Calafate area. It is by no means shut down for winter and the landscapes weve seen over the past few days have been nothing less than unique and remarkably stunning. Our first full day started at 430AM for a 530 pickup to Torres del Paine in Chile. We booked the tour through our hostel at around 100USD for the d http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-397683.html BeckWe 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 f http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-397098.html 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 thats what the wind is called.It was also raining and http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-396531.html