Blogs from El Calafate, Santa Cruz, Argentina, South America - page 15

Total hours on Bus: 80 We continued our tour of Patagonia further south in the very small but touristy town of El Calafate where the principal and only real street is lined with restaurants and souvenir shops with the odd camping shop dotted between them. The ONLY reason to visit El Calafate is to visit the Perito Moreno Glacier and that is more than reason enough to head so far south. It is very hard to describe the feeling you get when you see the glacier...the only words I can think of is breathtaking, stunning and awe-inspiring. I have to say it is one of the most beautiful things I have seen in my short life and it will be pretty hard to beat. You see the glacier from a series of walkways and we spent ... read more

I rumbled over Ruta 40, following the Andes spine down into Patagonia from the Lake District. The bus ride from Bariloche to El Chalten took almost 30 hours, which was exhausting. The scenery along the way was spectacularly barren and remote. There was not a cloud in the sky as the bus chugged past Estancias (farms), roaming llamas and ostriches. Desert fields of dust and sprouting dry grass stretched on for miles on either side of the gravel road. The sun shone relentlessly all day ensuring the environment remained dry, harsh and near lifeless. The entire route is gravel, apart from a few miles of tarmac. The bus was in fair enough condition but the seats did not fully recline which ensured the two nights spent on the bus were uncomfortable and icy cold. The bus ... read more

Well, I find myself back in Santiago now, so I have a lot of catching up to do with blogs on our last week in Argentina. I thought it would be best to go in order, since our adventures last ended in Puerto Natales after an adventurous hike in Torres del Paine and some amazing penguin viewing. We arranged to do a tour with an operator out of Puerto Natales to the Glacier Perito Moreno in El Calafete and to have them drop us off in El Calafete on the way home since it was easier than taking the bus ourselves. So, we woke up early on our last day in the beautiful country of Chile, for a while at least, and scrambled to get on the transfer at 7:00 am in the morning. I am ... read more

We almost didnt make it as we had a nail biting session flying from Puerto Madryn to El Calafate in a 10 seater Lade plane which struggled against the strong patagonian winds. The pilot admitted that we only had enough fuel left to attempt a landing once and if it was too windy we´d have no other option but to turn back. All six of us passsengers were so relieved we made it safe and sound! Now we know why Argentians say "Lade flight, hold on tight!". When we arrived it was a beautiful sunny day so we were lulled into a false sense of security that the weather would be nice for our trip to the Perito Moreno Glacier the following day. How wrong we were! It was pouring day with rain the whole day ... read more

After a few days in Bariloche we made our way, again by bus, to el Calafate, home of the famous Perto Merino glacier. Theres not a lot to do in El Calafate itself, but the area is beautiful. The temperature was about 20 ish during the day and sunny enough, but come sunset it got pretty cold, maybe around 5-10 degrees. The highlight of this leg of our journey was walking on the glacier, which was quote expensive, but totally worth it. From El Calafate we jumped on a bus to Iguazu. If you look at a map, thats pretty much the length of Argentina. The bus ride took us about 57 hours. Madness? Probably. Our thinking was that it would be a good way to save a few dollars (theres nothing to spend your money ... read more