El Calafate to El Chalten

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After a basic breakfast of day-old sliced baguette, jam/butter, a croissant and coffee, we headed out to Los Glaciares National Park via a less-travelled back road. Along the way we saw many birds of prey which preferred the easy food of road kill than having to work for their kills. We stopped by a road house with a flock of sheep and a chulengo, a baby guanaco. I think they were meant to draw customers into the on-site café, but we were too busy playing and watching the animals.

Just to be sure, I had a real calafate berry picked from the side of the road. It wasn’t in season so it tasted kind of sour.
We then continued to the National Park where the famous Perito Moreno Glacier is located. My guidebook says it’s one of very few glaciers that are still advancing, at least not retreating, but a local guide said it is losing height, currently at about 60 m. I had different views of the glacier, first from a boat, then a boardwalk which had been recently renovated. Rather than describing it, have a look at the many photos I took – same but different from a slightly different angle.
We bought some wine for the camping portion of our trip coming up in Torres del Paine in Chile. Per unit volume wine is cheaper than beer.

An afternoon bus took us to El Chalten in just under 3 hours. The bus was modern and comfortable, better than most of the Greyhound buses in North America. When the weather is nice you can see the mountain ranges and get nice photos if you sit on the driver side of the bus.

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