El Calaparty!!

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I arrived in Rio Gallegos in complete darkness. It was 08:00 in the morning, but due to the time of year and how far south I was, the sun doesn’t rise until late, which made getting up at what is considered a normal time, quite difficult. I had been on a bus overnight and still had another 5 hours to go before arriving in El Calafate, where the principal tourist attraction is the mighty Perito Merino glacier. I was excited about this, but more excited about a reunion that was not supposed to happen until I got to New Zealand, but as the two kiwi boys in question are hopeless travellers (but bloody good drinkers) it just so happen that our paths would cross again in South America. They were in Ushuaia, the most southerly point of the continent and would meet me the next day…or so I thought.

Whilst on the bus I had begun speaking to Cassie, an Australian girl who has been living in Hong Kong for the last 5 years or so. She was easy to talk to and had a lot of interesting stories and I enjoyed her company. I checked into the same hostel as her and after freshening up, we headed into town for some lunch. El Calafate is a quaint little place with one main road and being the ‘off season’ for tourists, was unsurprisingly very quiet. We found a nice looking little restaurant, had a thoroughly enjoyable conversation and enjoyed some tasty lunch, washed down with a bottle of Malbec. We went back to the hostel, checked emails etc and then went back into town for a couple more drinks, returning back to the hostel around 21:00, where things got interesting! Waiting for me at the hostel reception was a message to call a certain Michael Moss, a name that has become synonymous with drinking vast quantities of alcohol and an all round great man! It turned out that Mikey and Jace - another great man by the way - had opted against the overnight bus and decided to fly up from Ushuaia, which meant they were in town and were staying at a hostel just up the road. Within 15 minutes of the phone call I was in their company and consuming the first of many reminiscent beers. I had met these two chaps at Carnival in Brazil back in February and was fantastic being back in their company - two genuinely all round decent guys who I got on incredibly well with. Needless to say, that one beer turned into…a lot…quickly…and I decided to pull the pin around 01:30 and headed back to my hostel, via the ever trusty beer taxi!

I ended proceedings early(ish) that night because I had anticipated the following day to be a very boozy affair (as that was the intended day of meeting them) and it didn’t disappoint! We met for ‘breakfast’ around midday and went back to the same restaurant for another satisfying meal and another bottle of red. We then went to the supermarket for some ‘supplies’ which consisted of…and this still haunts me…8 bottles of beer, 6 bottles of wine, a bottle of gin, a bottle of vodka and various mixers…and some crisps! We went back to my hostel and proceeded to catch up on each others travelling tales and reminisce about the 10 carnage filled days spent in Salvador. As has been the case over the last 6 months, the drink was flowing all too easily and we were making headway into our stock. The banter was also flowing and was easy to remember why the 3 of us got on so well in the first place, although it was a shame that the rest of the carnival team were not there too…although for the sake of my body it was probably a good thing they weren‘t!

Cassie arrived back from her day trip around 18:00 and along with an American couple and a lad from NZ, we continued in the same fashion and formed a tidy little group in the social area. Everyone was in good spirits, at least by that stage it seemed as though they were, until people started dropping off to bed around 22:00. The majority of our supplies had disappeared by this point but we didn’t want the night to end, so just before midnight we donned our jackets (I forgot to mention it was also bloody cold) and went in search of an open bar. No sooner had we arrived on the main street but Mikey had disappeared. Neither Jace or me saw him slope off and couldn’t work out where the hell he had disappeared to. Jace is adamant that he wouldn’t trust Mikey with his cat and was convinced that a member of the fairer sex had to be involved somehow, but how he could have performed such a trick was well beyond me. Me and Jace went to the pub, though I had to pull the pin about 01:30 leaving Jace to carry on by himself. Annoyingly, he greeted me fresh faced the next morning when I moved my backpack up to their hostel. It also transpired that Mikey had actually been arrested for being drunk and disorderly after being refused entry to the casino. I still don’t know how he managed to do that without us seeing it happen, but according to Mikey, he spent the next 4 hours inside the police station drinking matte and talking to them about his line of work, eventually being released with no charge around 05:00. He really is a smooth talking individual…and very useful being fluent in Spanish too.

The next day consisted of much of the same; breakfast in ‘our’ restaurant, the trip to the supermarket to stock up and then proceeding to drink the stock. We did actually do some sightseeing that day, down to the lake to see some flamingos, but we all decided it was too cold to be standing around taking pictures of skinny pink birds and hailed a cab back to the hostel where a beer would warm us up.

On the Sunday, Mel and Ruth were rolling into town, 2 girls the boys had met in Bariloche. They checked into another hostel close to where I had originally been, so we headed down there armed with beer and wine and was looking forward to meeting a pair I had heard much about. They must have been tired from all of the travelling because they were very quiet and subdued…and I was almost doubting the boys judgement of this pair. It was here I briefly met Gabrielle, an aussie guy who was out of the same mould as Mikey and I would get to know him better as time went by and who would become a bloody good mate and a great guy to be around. Jessica, a French girl who I first met in Puerto Madryn was there with Irish Dave and Tom completed the group.

The next morning was the day we had designated for the trip to the glacier, which during the ‘off season’ is pretty much El Calafate’s only tourist pull. We left Mikey - the ’responsible’ one - to hire the car and sort the paperwork and by 10:00 the car was full - me, Mikey, Jace, Ruth and Mel - plus a picnic - and we were on the road to the glacier, 80kms away.

The drive to the glacier was very picturesque, with snow capped mountains, green fields and autumn brown trees lining the route. Getting to the glacier was really exciting and for me the first one I had seen. Formed during the last ice age, compressed snow forces itself down the valley between mountains, forming glacial ice. Perito Merino is apparently the only glacier in the world that is still advancing - so global warming hasn’t got its hand on this one yet! Ok, geography lesson over…but this was an amazing sight. I’m not sure what I was expecting but this far outweighed expectations and was easily the biggest piece of ice I have ever seen! It was 60 metres high, just over 2kms wide and was Xxkms long! The purpose built walkway provided plenty of photo opportunities and we were able to witness on more than one occasion, massive pieces of ice crumble from the face and into the water. I have no idea how big these ’pieces’ were, but judging by the splash they created, the size of a car would be a realistic guess. Mikey also managed to film a spectacular piece of footage when about 5 parts of the same section came crashing down one after the other, creating huge noise and phenomenal viewing. Truly spectacular. In the afternoon we went on a guided boat trip close to the face of the glacier which gave us a different perspective, but would have been even more impressive had it not been lashing down with rain, which was the only disappointment of the day. The ride home was just as funny and continued long into the night, ending up in a new bar in town, that was marking its opening by holding an acrobatics show!

The next morning was an early start as we were heading to El Chalten, a place 3 hours from El Calafate and an area of numerous walks, natural beauty and the famous Fitzroy mountain range! Feeling more than a little delicate, the sleep on the bus was much appreciated and I didn’t feel too bad when the coach stopped at a lookout point, allowing us the first sighting of the mountain. I had heard from other travellers that it is rare to actually see the peak because of adverse weather, but that day the gods must have been on our side as we had perfect viewing conditions that whole day. We had to make the most of the conditions and so went on a 3 hour walk to a viewing area in order to get better views of the mountain range. The walk was easy enough and we got to the lookout in good spirits, unpacked our lunch and had a picnic in one of the nicest places I have ever had a picnic!

The following day we again packed a picnic and went again to the lookout, although this time we continued for another hour or so, to a lake that had frozen over. It was good to be in the fresh air and doing some exercise, especially as it felt as though it was counter balancing the unhealthy aspects we were getting up to most evenings. Mikey, a geologist by trade, took it upon himself to educate the rest of the group about certain rock types, formations and how and why they occur, which was pretty interesting and informative and made me realise there was more to this man!

The following day we spent killing time as our bus back to El Calafate wasn’t until the evening. We arrived back in El Calafate just before 22:00 - a significant time as that is when the supermarket closed, allowing enough time for half the group to make some much needed purchases and the other half to carry the bags to the hostel and check in. It was another great night spent in great company, although we all seemed to have one eye on the following morning, which heralded the start of the World Cup and I was very keen to see the opening ceremony and first game. So I missed the opening ceremony but did manage to drag myself out of bed for the opening game, which I hoped would really set the tone for the tournament. Watching the biggest football tournament in the world in arguably the biggest footballing nation was an experience in itself. The Argentinean staff made for a great atmosphere and really got behind their country when they played. It was great to see such passion…and the whole country virtually shut down for every 90 minutes that the national team were involved. As expected, England continued to disappoint and their first game against the US really brought the mood down in the hostel. Being the only Englishman in the party, I took a fair amount of justified stick about how poor we were etc etc and how depressed the teams performance had made everyone else. I looked around and they were right, everyone looked glum! We couldn’t have that, so the troops rallied and were back to the supermarket. The girls cooked a lovely meal for us all that night and we were again joined by Gabriel and Jessica. That Friday night we went out in true Argentinean style, hitting the one decent bar that was open that night…even though when we headed out it was 03:00 in the morning! There were a lot of bad moves being thrown on the dance floor and I have no idea what happened to the girls but they took things to a new level, firstly dancing on the tables and then moving onto the bar! The locals were shocked at first, but soon embraced the crazy behaviour, with one local even joining them.

The Saturday followed exactly the same pattern, ending up in the same bar at the same time, for the same length of time and exhibiting the same amount of stupidity. It was a great couple of days/nights and the boys were a little bit down about leaving the next day and breaking up the group…or so they thought! Mikey and I ventured to the bus station to buy tickets for the Sunday night bus, only to be informed that we were too late, that the bus was full and that we would have to wait until 14:00 the following day. We decided to go to the same restaurant for our ‘last supper’. It was nice to do something all together and reminisce about the past week and a half! We then went back to the hostel…where things took a turn for the worst…for Mikey!

Since I had seen him last, it was fair to say that he had become a little more rotund and along with his waistline, his curly mop had also increased size. Girls being girls had the bright idea that his curly head of hair would actually look much better completely straight and set to task in attacking him with a set of GHDs. Mikey to his credit was a happy(ish) participant and I think it is fair to say, looked a ‘new man’ at the end of the transformation. It was uncanny that the end product made him look like what Gabriel possibly could look like in 10 year, and was the reason why they were nicknamed father and son.

The last night was as heavy as the first one and I swear that was the closest drinking experience I can compare to Carnival, and I didn’t think I would see those level for a long long time, let alone 5 months later! For a town that only boasts one attraction during the winter, we had managed to spend 11 nights there, which must be some sort of record! It meant that I was going to miss out on a fair amount of other sights until my impending departure from South America, but I cant be dissappointed by thing I haven't seen. I think it is rare that a group gel so quickly and get on as well as we did and I realised pretty early on that we may never be all together as one ever again. Mikey and Jace are two of the most genuine blokes I had had the privilege of getting to know, thoroughly enjoyed their company and have no doubts we will remain life long friends. I cant wait to return to NZ at the end of September for their joint 40th birthdays, although I’ll have to keep my liver in top shape for that! Ruth and Mel are two of the craziest girls I have ever met bounce so well off each other. It was great getting to know Gabriel over the week of carnage, especially when he managed to tear himself away from the French distraction. So easy to get on with and with a lot in common - including our appreciation for John Denver - and is a real shame he will still be on the road by the time I hit Australia.

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Photos

El Calafate
On the way to Perito Merino

El Calafate
On the way to Perito Merino

El Calafate
On the way to Perito Merino

El Calafate
On the way to Perito Merino

El Calafate
On the way to Perito Merino

Comments

[Jack Sparrow]

the memories
Shit Mate, Only just got round to reading this, certainly has brought back a few memories!! Bloody good times!