Advertisement
CIAO PATAGONIA:Not as easy as you think. I remember the Englishmen who dived into the water of Milford Sound in New Zealand...next to a glacier...followed by our two children.
They just kept jumping in...freezing as...probably getting off on the applause from admiring adults on our sloop moored just there.
They were young then...I was horrified...not encouraging...but quite impressed nonetheless.
Now I'm in El Calafate in Patagonia...Glacier Central...my chance to hug a few icebergs...crash a few glaciers...get among the ice.
******
The capital of Parque Nacional Los Glaciares...Argentina's second largest National Park...half covered in ice...to many the most impressive.
Glaciers...rivers of ice...they say 300 in Patagonia...13 in the park descending into Lago Viedma in the northeast or into Lago Argentino in the southeast plus many descending off mountains into crater lakes.
Yet the glaciers of Patagonia I hear are retreating at a faster rate than anywhere on the planet.
So no time to lose...El Calafate is also our exit from Patagonia...leaving the 4WD at the airport when we leave...no time to waste...gotta get amongst it.
******
First day to the famous Perito Merino Glacier...80 kms excellent roads...one & a
half hours medium traffic.
This part of South America like eating food...goes into the mouth at the top and seems to settle around the gut below...can't think of any other reason all of Patagonia seems to congregate in one place...gotta be 100 times more people than anywhere else we've been.
Picked up a couple of girls...hitching a ride to the glacier...kinda prefer they safer with us than risk pervoes...anyway enjoy the company...Denise driving...they chatting away...art students from Buenos Aires.
Had some pretty hot blues playing...they telling me blues bands in B.A. they know.
Then they heard it.
Buddy Guy..."Damn right I've got the blues"...excited sounds from the back..."turn it up please...more more"...squeals when Buddy hits the regret in "Five Long Years"...really squealing with delight from the back...screaming for more...Etta James...Shakey Jake.
One of those musical highlights when travelling...big hugs when alighting...made their day.
******
Perito Merino Glacier is a tourist delight.
A cruise to the South face from about 6kms from the carpark...one hour cruise...well worth it.
Then back at the carpark...the famous North face...Visitors Centre with restaurant...boardwalks for fabulous views quite close...or a walk along the lake
shore that for us was only us...kinda special.
Met Michael & Claudia that we had met at the crater lake of Glacier Huemgel near El Chalten then at a waterfall...now at Perito Merino Glacier...Germany meets OZ again.
Left at 7.30 pm...leave a day for this place...can't imagine racing in & out as most tours do.
Catching the vibe needs a bit of time to smell the roses.
Back at El Calafate...all of Patagonia there...looking for lamb BBQ...guy sitting on his own...table next to him.
And that's how we met Massimo from Italy...chatted to 11.30pm...still keep in touch...delightful company.
Chatted about his yearly trips alone...and tennis.
Yep tennis...played it most of my life. Met a prospective tennis partner...from Italy...in Patagonia of all places!!!
******
Return from Torres del Paine...gotta meet some friends for dinner in El Calafate.
Message at the hotel that they're at "the restaurant with the flags"...should be easy as that's the only directions.
A hotel with flags...restaurant empty...up a firestair of another building with flags...up and down the main road...feeling like a burglar entering properties with flags...fearing detention if I continue.
We
didn't find them.
Need Rick's Parillo for Buffet Grill to recover.
And that's how we met Ronnie and Frankie...brothers from Khartoum, Sudan...chatted to 11pm...who needs wayward friends when you have such great company?
******
Early start 5.30am for the 7.45am bus to Punta Bandera for our Upsala Cruise.
This is the cream of the lago glacier cruises and must be pre-booked at the Tourist Centre in El Calafate.
Bit pricey...but before you dismiss it...consider this.
Of the National Parks I have visited around the World...Africa, Asia, Oceania and South America...Argentina and Chile are up there in my reckoning in understanding how to preserve the natural quality of the parks...with an attitude of "Please Enter...you are welcome".
Bold call...but while I was there I was impressed.
Or maybe it was the super dooper cruisers on the Upsala Cruise with restaurants with full eco facilities at one of the glaciers that swayed me.
There is something about the exhileration of skimming over the water at incredible speed between icebergs bigger than houses...like flying...feeling like a seagull flitting in and out...sometimes so close we could feel the icy aura of the icebergs as we zipped by.
******
Upsala Cruise There were heaps of buses and heaps & heaps of people waiting at the docks. We were boat 4 "Nueva Leon"...a two deck luxurious catermaran cruiser.
Racing in silence across the massive Lago Argentino...cutting through the Andes mountains hovering above the shore...cutting through the water as if the Patagonian wind could blow no more.
First stop Bahia Onelli. Walk along a marked forest trail...through Tolkien moss draped forests...to a small lake with three glaciers feeding it just there...Onelli, Agassi and Haem...pretty surreal.
Then back to the restaurant by the dock...two soups, steak, creme caramel...garnished with a fabulous view...way to go.
At 12.45 back on board...next stop Upsala Glacier...Argentina's second largest (after Viedma near El Chalten).
I now know why this is on the itinerary...heaps of icebergs...massive blocks of blues and whites...gliding beside, around, up to and behind...to the glacier face and just resting near there...heaps of time to take it all in.
A three-decked cat glides from behind an iceberg...like a little toy boat in a sea of giants...yet its bigger than ours.
******
Past other glaciers
to the tallest of them all...Spegnazzi Glacier with its 104 metre high glacier face...feeling like a pinhead against its jagged wall.
We sat next to it for ages as well...taking in the three glaciers that fed it...getting to know the other passengers.
One was a retired colonel of the German Diplomatic Corps who had served in the Cold War, Albania and Kosovo...probably the one we spent most time with...standing invitation to visit him in Germany one day...very travelled...even has special privileges to visit anthropological sights around the World...yep...still got his number.
Upsala Glacier Cruise...a definite highlight of our Patagonian adventure...pricey...but definitely worth it.
******
Ciao Argentina...for Denise not easy at all One last week in Buenos Aires. Mercedes had her baby so after visiting her in hospital we collected our gear...goodbye to our friends in Adrogue over one last meal at Jorge's restaurant...and into an hotel in B.A.
Time for a genuine B.A. experience...24 hour soccer channels...walks through 19th century streets of past glory...fabulous cuisine at Zum Edelweis, Petit Colon & La Opera...Prune handbags...purchasing that leather coat I procrastinated over for weeks...and two pairs of lizard skin shoes.
Never got
to Uruguay...pity that.
Denise leaving on a midnight 17 hour flight back to Oz and me leaving the following day on my B.A. to Santiago, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Sydney multi day round trip compliments of Frequent Flyers.
Should have been easy.
But as we now know...if you fly Aerolineas...well...never again.
******
Last meal at Zum Edelweis of Cinzano with lemon & tonic followed by asparagus cheese fried entre, asago (lamb) for me and suckling pig for Den, Melba & stuffed figs, coffee and wine...feeling pretty fantastic from our last meal together before heading home.
I had rung Mercedes earlier and thanked her again for looking after us so late in her pregnancy before we headed into Patagonia. As she was employed by Aerolineas she told us Denise's flight was delayed to 2.15am and gave a special number to keep in touch with the airline.
The night before I had our hotel ring the airline to have Denise's ticket confirmed for midnight which was confirmed but for some reason a seat number had not been allocated.
So when I got the news from Mercedes of a delay I rang the number
she gave me. I was told Denise's ticket was confirmed but on asking for the seat number was told "It will be provided at the Airport."
No alarm bells ringing that I could hear, but we'll get to the Airport early anyway and get her a good seat.
After all on her flight from Sydney to B.A. via Auckland she had a broken seat that would not recline and the TV on the plane did not work...so surely all her bad luck had been used up on the flight in.
In reality assumptions are just that...and luck comes in many shades and colours.
******
Our remis arrived at 10.30pm and we were at the Airport before 11 p.m for Denise's 2.15am flight that Sunday morning.
In the line before check in opened and waited.
And waited and waited and waited.
The lady behind us had a seat number and a boarding pass. She had been in her seat on a plane the previous Thursday when together with others was unbuckled and taken off the plane and others were given their seats!
She had simply been asked "Please come with
us" and was somewhat peeved she had got out of her seat as it turned out.
She was told the plane was overbooked as there had been a strike the week before and 3,000 passengers had been delayed. Aerolineas was catching up by putting people in seats on later planes including her own. She had seen her plane take off without her.
There were now three serving at the check-in desk but for some reason the line did not move. The desk was then vacant for about half an hour or more. So we waited...and waited.
There was a long line behind us...we near the front...and people were getting restless, agitated and angry.
The hands of the clock moved but the line did not.
A drunk guy went ballistic and started to lay into staff. "You can't get on because you are drunk" they were saying. But he made such a fuss he was the only one who did get on.
We got no information...all staff acted dumb...and most passengers spoke Spanish and it didn't sound pretty.
On one of my attempts to obtain information I was invited to have Denise jump the
queue...as if he thought I'd create trouble if she didn't.
I said "No. We will wait our turn like everyone else. Please advise people what is happening."
We heard in Madrid a few days before that passengers facing a similar situation had stormed the booking areas and smashed all the computers.
Passengers behind us in Buenos Aires encouraging us to join them to do likewise...crowd agitation palpable.
2.15 am approached and passed but the line did not move.
At last an announcement...I think you're about to board Den.
"The plane has taken off. All passengers that did not get on the flight will be put up in hotels at the Airline's expence. Please wait and we will attend to that shortly."
******
I got to bed at 6 a.m...Denise whisked off to the President Hotel where she stayed for three nights.
I spent some time in Santiago, didn't get arrested this time in L.A, saw baggage handlers in L.A. backslam every piece of luggage then laugh before putting them on conveyor belts (No I didn't dare take any photos), got asked why I had empty Chilean beer bottles in
AWAITING OUR RETURN
As we've eaten the Calafate berries...it is said we will returnmy pack in Tokyo
...and arrived 50 minutes before Denise on a fine morning at Sydney Airport.
******
Ahh travelling...many memories...many stories.
Our trip in Argentina & Chile...driving down the Andes through Patagonia...fabulous memories...simply fabulous.
Relax & Enjoy,
Dancing Dave
Denise is leaving
Advertisement
Tot: 0.091s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 19; qc: 30; dbt: 0.0435s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Ah traveling memories
The airlines generally find a way to tick you off at the end of a lovely wonderful and exciting trip. Nearly 100% of the time they find a way to put a clink in the flow. I did a Polar swim when I was in Antarctica. Beautiful beautiful beautiful.