Torres Del Paine, Patagonia country

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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 seemed to take ages to process. Anyway, drive in Chile for all of about 30 minutes when we then have to check back into Argentina!! Thankfully this was a slightly shorter arrangement of about 15 minutes. So, back in Argentina, the bus is driving along quite merrily when it slightly slows and then literally parks on a boat. No stopping and checking of documents or anything, we simply followed the road and parked straight on the boat...much to mine and Brim´s amusement. Anyhow, this gave us the chance to get some fresh air for about 20 minutes as the boat (with coach) crossed the waters to the main land! I think Brim got a shot of me with a slightly windswept look on deck 😊

Anyhow, boat journey over the bus drives off again without any delays and we arrive in Rio Gallegous where the sun is setting but there is nothing else to write home about! From Rio Gallegous is another long trek to El Calafate, Patagonia. (note I am not mentioning anything about making Brim sit through that football game!). Nothing much to see on the journey except a few llamas and very flat desert full of goarse and heather (Fairy you would LOVE Patagonia for the heather)!

Arriving in El Calafate (or just Calafate as it appears to be called by some) the landscape changes with the large Argentinio lake and a backdrop of snow covered mountains. Although warmer than Ushuaia, still quite nippy so still wearing hat and gloves outside! El Calafate is a very pretty town which was only in fact built in 1997 which explains the newness of the streets and shop fronts. Perhaps its only downside are the crazy dogs which run loose and run after the moving cars...quite scary as you think they are going to be flattened but somehow just escape in time! As we arrived at midnight at the El Calafate bus station we grabbed a taxi straight to our hostel. The hostel, America del Sur was really nice and warm (heated floors) and after an information overload we got to our beds!

Next morning feeling quite groggy from the emense bus journey we decided to take it easy but were atill up in time to have breakfast watching the sunrise against a backdrop of beautiful mountains. The rest of the day was just as chilled. We wandered into town centre, a dog deciding to follow us the whole way and even waited outside the local bus station as we booked tickets for our next journey! The dog, we named him Duke, was there as we stepped into the bank and just wouldn´t go! We had to make a clever diversion out the other side of the bus station to avoid him! We were not trying to be mean but he was frankly a mess and the locals stared enough as it was without our faithful friend in toe! Our dog adventures didn´t end there...in the afternoon we wandered back to the hostel and a rotweiler, known for their placid natures comes bounding up to me and Brim, Brim getting him jumping up at her she manages to tell him in no uncertain terms to go away and thankfully he does! A bit scary though as you never know if its going to be a Cujo moment!

Having stopped for lunch and a rest we wandered around the local area to get nearer the lake and views another 2 dogs followed us on our adventures! One was crazy in running in the road after the cars but still kept following us! Anyhow, we diverted our walk when 8 or so other dogs started barking their heads off at us (our 2 followers sheepishly hinding behind us!) and we wandered back to the hostel. We met a lovely couple Rebecca and James from England who shared travel stories with us and booked our tour to the Glacier for the next day. The staff in the hostel were extremely nice and recommended different tours to try and where to go in El Calafate.

So, the main reason for coming to El Calafate was to visit the emmense Glacier Moreno. Not the largest glacier in the area however, still massive at 200 odd kms and very accessible. We were picked up at the hostel in a minibus and drove to the National Park Glaciers area. During the journey, our guide in Spanish and English told us about the whole area, how the Glacier came to be etc., quite informative and made the journey go quite quickly 😊 On the journey we drove through alot of flat Patagonia desert and saw some cows, eagles and cormorants. As we neared the Glacier there was a mini countdown and the view was awesome. I hope the pictures do it justice.

At the park we did a boat trip which enabled us to get very close to the southside of the glacier. From the boat you could see the different lines running through the glacier and how it radiated a blueness compared to the snow of the mountains. We were able to pick out the small ant like size of the people who had taken the glacier walking tour - having walked on a glacier in New Zealand I was more than content to just view it from the sidelines, there is only so much excitement to be had from cold and ice 😊

Following the boat trip we were taken to the boardwalk area where there were different levels to view both the north and south side of the glacier. From the walking view we could see the top of the glaicer much clearer but the main attraction was waiting patiently as every 20 minutes or so there would be a loud cracking noise and parts of the glacier would break away and fall into the water with a huge echo ringing around the woods where we stood. In all my attempts to capture the moment when parts of the glacier would break away I only caught the end with my camera but believe me when I say it was quite a sight to behold 😊

30th May, and left El Calafate for Peurto Madryn. Having watched the FA Cup final thanks to Brim finding an online live stream we caught the bus. Ended up going back to Rio Gallegos (just how the roads work here) so we could head from west side of Argentina towards the east coast. Again the view from the bus was typical Patagonia desert of flat land and goarse! We did however see our first true gaucho, riding his horse and rounding up the livestock with dogs keeping everyone in check at the sides 😊

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Photos

The glacier ...
.. not a foxes one!

Comments

[Scott of Antartic]

Miss me?
Howdy Whale...good blogs recently..less bus action and much more about the places you visit...you're warming up nicely ;-) Still not hearing enough about food..are you people even having meaks over there?? So...what' happening in blighty..Euro elections yesterday..Gordon the Gopher kept charge of the broom cupboard better than Brown is of the Labour party...football transfer stories are predictably sensationalist...Big Brother has started again but hopefully no one will watch it (except Twitters)...Milly is due in a few days...footie presentation night on Saturday...off to a fun fair tonight (yes, really)...Mel got vertigo from being on the ground...it's all going on over here I can tell you ;-) xxx