Blogs from El Calafate, Santa Cruz, Argentina, South America - page 8

I left Buenos Aires in the middle of the night to fly south to El Calafate, a small tourist town that was to be my first stop in Patagonia. I barely remember the flight – I crashed out instantly and awoke as we were landing with my untouched food placed kindly next to me. El Calafate airport is in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by the vast and empty Patagonian steppe, with only a few mountains visible in the distance. I soon realised that the town itself was pretty much the same, a tiny place containing only the airport, some hostels, a few travel agents and lots of hiking equipment shops. I spent the first day exploring the town (didn’t take long) and a nearby Laguna (containing some Flamingos) and then headed back to my hostel ... read more

After visiting the Argentinian side of Iguazu falls myself and Will, a guy from Dublin I'd crossed paths with a few times in Brazil, left Josh and took a bus to Buenos Aires just in time for St. Patrick's day. On arrival we bumped into a few of the guys I'd stayed with in Rio so we all headed out to watch some Six Nations and drink some green beers. The whole world celebrates St Paddy's but Buenos Aires takes it especially seriously. Whole streets in the centre were full of Guinness drinking Argentinians in a party of almost Carnival like proportions. Nightlife in BA is pretty hardcore, no one seems to head out until about 3am and to head home until nearly lunchtime. Being Irish for a day had it's advantages as I quickly realised ... read more

Ok, this is going to be big. I've got a week's worth of stuff to write about so I'll try to keep it concise. Also I'm dedicating this one to all those who did Geography at school, Mr Lemoine included, as I am now literally THE big dog of seeing glacial features. I was all like "why hello there lateral and terminal morraines forming barriers to the corrie lake or tarn that sits in front of the frost shattered back wall layered with scree deposits". Anyways: The week has been amazing, although the name of this place is slightly decieving in that I have so far not patted any gonias at all. First things first, Monday. This was the day of the visit to the Perito Moreno Glacier, which according to trustworthy sources translates as the ... read more

Our time in Buenos Aires has come to a close. We didn´t do a huge amount on our last day, I got my phone sorted finally, we went to a modern art museum and packed for our flight the next day. The flight down was pretty good, they seemed to just give us endless free drinks and we even got a small cardboard box with some biscuity treats inside. Having said this, the champagne oyster consome was sub par and the braised condor was absolute garbage, but over all it was pleasant. The landing seemed a tad speedy. Our descent compared to a normal one is similar to going down a firemans pole compared to a slide. It was all good though and we landed safely in a vast nothingness by a lake. They call it ... read more

We knew the hostel had breakfast (which we have figured out is worth about $3 per person when comparing a hostel that has it to a hostel that doesn´t). But we had no idea the breakfast would be this amazing. Toast, yogurt, cereal, coffee, tea, cookies, JUICE!, the works. We have learned that when a hostel gives you breakfast, take all that you can. So after stuffing ourselves, we wrapped up the remaining toast and cookies and headed to the 8:00 am bus. The bus, a large coach type of bus, led us East. We checked out of Chile at the boarder, drove a few kilometers, and checked in to Argentina. No cost! About 3 hours in to the bus ride, it got very hot and the driver didn´t feel like opening the windows or anything ... read more