Blogs from El Calafate, Santa Cruz, Argentina, South America - page 9

Not much to say about this place really..... Great friendly hostel with awards to prove it and it proved to be lovely and social ..... Can't decide if that was genuinely because in an evening people would rather just stay in the hostel, which is located in an elevated position away from it all with the great views of the lake and hills and outside of the very touristy town centre ....or .....whether everyone was just too lazy to hike the hill up and down again after a full day and pay the shockingly high touristy prices for everything down there!! Nevertheless we've really enjoyed a couple of nights here....supermarkets just next door so......Lamb Stew for dinner both nights with tea and biscuits..... Yum yum..... Chilling on the deck taking in the stunning view of the ... read more

Today was glacier day and after an extremely uneventful breakfast we packed up and headed off. First things first: I opened my present from Michele to discover it was a pair of purple Smart Wool socks! I had been coveting the ones Michele owned, and whether these were new or recycled I so didn't care, loved them and picked my outfit for the day based around them! Puerto Moreno Glacier was really cool bud didn't have a massive WOW factor for me. But I've been spoiled by my travels and kayaking through glaciers in Greenland and the Canadian Arctic followed by Antarctica is hard to beat. The walkway they have created is wonderful, however the dry bumpy gravel road we took on route for a "special treat" was lame and unnecessary. We ended up at this ... read more

We flew from Esquel to El Calafate in Argentina. Calafate is the jumping off point to get to places like Perito Moreno Glacier, into Puerto Natales (Chile) and also out to El Chalten - and I did all of these! We stayed in some small cabanas in Calafate and checked in. It being Thanksgiving in the States, Jess wanted to do something special to celebrate. As nowhere seemed to have roast turkey, we booked into a steak restaurant for dinner. However, we had arrived close to lunchtime and so opted for a ´light lunch´of pizza. It turned out to be patagonian lamb pizza and amazing, huge chunks of beautifully marinated, cooked and seasoned lamb, and smothered with cheese. I like these 2 ingredients seperately and never thought to combine them - wow, what a combo!! We ... read more

Day 35 - Tuesday 15th November 5 minutes from the completion of the hike yesterday my big toe started to ache, and instantly I realised my gout was starting to act up. By the time I reached the end of the trek and we were sitting at the hotel restaurant I could feel my whole foot heating up and swelling so I quickly took one of the gout tablets I had bought from home, but I knew it was too late. During the night my foot ached badly but not too bad so I assumed that I may have dodged a bullet….wrong. Both of us considered how lucky that I didn’t get a gout attack on the hike as it would have stopped us in our tracks. I knew that hadn’t drank enough water on the ... read more

Viva Aerolineas Argentinas! Mieliśmy lecieć do Buenos ostatnim lotem dziś. Ale pomna ostatnich doswiadczen, sprawdzilam na stronie, tworząc sobie specjalny profil klienta, i okazało sie, ze lot przełożony został na 17.50, co wykluczyło wszystkie calodniowe wycieczki. W międzyczasie okazalo sie jeszcze, ze wiejący z południowego-zachodu wiatr podnosi z patagonskich stepów popiół, który osiadł tam po eksplozji wulkanu w Chile tego lata. W efekcie loty do Buenos były odwołane, bo miasto zasypywal pył. Rano w tv byl nawet specjalny reportarz, w którym pan dziennikarz wystawiał do kamery palec, którym sekundę wcześniej potarl szybę samochodu. Wczoraj z lotniska w Buenos odwołane było 90 lotów. Armageddon. Zdecydowaliśmy wiec zrobić jakaś półdniową trasę i stanęło na wyprawie jeepami do Cierro Frias. Niesamowita sprawa, bo właściciel Estancii Alice, który powinien zająć się hodowlą steków,... read more