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Published: August 8th 2007
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Cerro Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre
This is a rare view of the peaks...usually they hide in the clouds. Or it´s the land of the wild dogs. They are everywhere. When I told Anke about them she said she couldn´t let them on the street. Well I am a little bit different. They might have a different live than our domestic animals, but I am sure people are feeding them. Most dogs I saw were in good shape, although some of them had this sad ¨doggy¨ look. :-(
I spent two nights in lovely place called I Keu Ken in El Calafate. It seems like the place is run by some mid twens and they take care of the guests as of members of their family... but still I had to pay a bill in the end... darn.. :-P Nevertheless they made my stay very comfortable by taking care of all my bookings.
During my stay I booked a half day trip to the Glacier of Perito Moreno. It is one of the most active glaciers in the world, who is calving frequently and therefore a good touris attraction. While it is moving downwards it hits a landmass in the middle of the lake. Once the ice has reached the rocks, the water will start to carve a
Windy El Calafate
View from the porch of I Keu Ken Hostel. View from the porch of I Keu Ken Hostel.
cave through it. In 2006 was the last collapse of such a cave.
This link is linked from the official El Calafate Homepage. I take no responsibility in any way.
It was extremely cold for my kind of outfit. Although I´ve worn a Gore Tex jacket and a thin fleece underneath... it was f**king cold. It rained almost the half day and maybe not enough sunrays hit the glacier to motivate him to get rid of some junks...But then suddenly an enourmous cracking noise. It was so loud - I though the whole glacier is falling apart ... but the piece had only the dimensions of a compact car. :-( After about 30 minutes of freezing and shivering... there it was a one family house calve bursted of the mother mass. ... Yeah where are the pictures? You might ask... Well the tricky thing about Fotos; for all you folks who didn´t pay attention in Physics class, light is faster than sound. Once I heard the crack the piece was already in freefall. Unfortunately I wasn´t willing to expose my camera to the shower and therefore wasn´t ready in time... well I did my best. :-/ The place
the warm I Keu Ken in El Calafate
The place is very nice and the staff is always helpful. is very nice and the staff is always helpful.
The next day I rode the bus to El Chalten. One of the most remote touristic places on this trip. Let´s say in El Calafate were only 50 percent of the roads paved, here they just left the gravel... Very organic** :-) Just before we entered the valley we savoured a sight to behold. Cerro Fitz Roy (3405m) and Cerro Torre (3102m) uncovered. It´s like Bergen (Norway) without rain... very rare! Unfortunately there is no view from the town itself. So I started marching uphill looking forward to see Mount Fitz Roy, but´bam´ he was wearing his white robe again.
In the afternoon I walked a pass a Brauhaus/Microbrewery ... Oh I couldn´t resist the idea of a freshly unfiltered brewage.
The next morning I aimed high and set the alarm to 8.00 but failed to leave the hostel before 10.00 LOL... oh well it´s holidays. It took me about 3,5h to the foot of Cerro Torre. I bathed my feet in the ice cold Laguna Torre, which is fed by the Glaciar Grande. And although I wandered around the lake for another hour or so I couldn´t get
Glacier Perito Moreno
This was just a closeup of the 5000m wide and up to 60m high ice front. a glimpse of Torre´s summit. And the weather was rather This was just a closeup of the 5000m wide and up to 60m high ice front.
hostile anyway - the freezing glacieral downwinds nearly blew me off my path. So I decided to hed back to homebase and have a refreshing Radler/Shanty.
The Beer kicked me right in the head and I went to bed instantly..zzzZZZ until 21.00 when my body said: gimma some food and not just those Muesli bars!!! So My body and I went down to the hostel´s restaurant. While I was eating, a nice Korean guy said down at my table and we had a nice chat about Korean history and why they might not like Japan... To conclute: That´s what I really like about this trip, it is so easy to get in touch with so many different cultures, stories, destinies ...
Traveling educates. The next day I went back to I Keu Ken for another night, before I´ll take a 21h busride to Puerto Madryn on the east coast.
Hasta la proxima vez.
El Stefan
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