Blogs from Santa Cruz, Argentina, South America - page 12

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South America » Argentina » Santa Cruz » El Chaltén February 16th 2014

Début de matinée assez stressante, je n'arrive pas à joindre les compagnies de bus pour savoir s'il reste des places pour El Calafate, si je ne peux pas partir aujourd'hui ou demain il faut que je change de plan. Je tente le tout pour le tout, je me présente à la station de bus et j'attends 2h l'un des deux bus qui part pour el Calafate. Il est affiché complet tout comme le suivant mais qui ne tente rien n'a rien. Par chance il reste de la place, certains n'ont pas réussi à arriver à temps ou ne se sont pas levés et font mon bonheur :) Je décolle à 11h, c'est parti pour 6h de bus...et oui l'Amérique du Sud est un beau continent mais il faut le mériter pour aller d'un site à un ... read more
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South America » Argentina » Santa Cruz » Los Antiguos February 12th 2014

PATAGONIA: Argentinian Rules...Following the Judge down Ruta 40. When heading into the unknown...a Guardian Angel or four comes as more than handy. When a stranger...a tall hombre in a ute flying an Argentinian flag says "Follow us...the road is dangerous ahead"...Do you follow? We did...and who'd have guessed how it ended up? ***** There were supposed to be four of us but we are in Bariloche in the west and our friends who organised this trip are back in Buenos Aires in the east due to the accident on New Years Eve. They had booked a 4WD for us four to drive down the Andes from Bariloche to Ushuaia at the bottom. We can't decide whether to wait for them if the suspected sprained wrist is not serious or proceed on south...just the two of us. ... read more
EL BOLSON
GAUCHOS
ESQUEL

South America » Argentina » Santa Cruz » El Calafate January 21st 2014

With the prospect of either a 35 hour bus or the alternative option of a 4 hour flight, we decided to bite the bullet and fork out the extra money for the latter option. With torrential downpours heavy enough to bring the UK to a grounding halt, our flight from Buenos Aires domestic airport was delayed an hour. This did however bring some delight to the nervous flyer among us, and the opportunity was taken to buy a bottle of wine and swig it from a plastic bag; more reminiscent of boozy hobo down Edmonton Green than a tourist in an airport departure lounge! After a butt clenching, white knuckle roller coasters of a flight we arrived in the Patagonian town of El Calafate. The number one attraction in the area is the Perito Merino glacier, ... read more
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South America » Argentina » Santa Cruz » Río Gallegos December 5th 2013

Frueh weg, diesmal war es ein laaaaaaaaaaaaaanger Tag mit etwa 800 km, verschoenert durch Regen bei der Abfahrt. Der Regen hielt 2/5 des Weges an, ich nehme an, dass die meisten bis dahin recht feucht waren. Dazu kam der Wind (heute kein Sturm) - wegen dieses Windes war ich den 2. Tag im Van. Und ich war ganz froh, denn der Tag war schrecklich lang. 99 % der Strecke sassen wir im Van und maulten ueber die langweilige Landschaft: brettel-eben, kerzengerade Strasse, leicht wellig, ganz leichte Kurven, Guanakos, Schafe, sonst garnix. Erst die letzten 1 % hatten wir einen anderen Grund, um zu maulen: Valdivia ist eine extrem scheusliche Stadt, auch wenn sie direkt am Meer liegt. Hotel modern und schoen. Zudem hatte sich die Temperatur im Laufe des Tages von 5 Grad bei der Abfahrt ... read more

South America » Argentina » Santa Cruz December 3rd 2013

Sunday 1st December (Odyssey Day 23) We had to collect six more of the group from in town this morning before leaving Ushuaia, so we had an early start. Ellie and I were up at 0530 to get ready, have breakfast and pack the truck for a long day of travelling. I took a seat right at the very back for the first time today and it was a good choice, as all I really wanted to do was sleep! You can’t recline these seats as they are right against the back wall but there is a lot more leg room than other seats. There is a bit of a draft through the windows, but at least it’s not as cold as being near the door, where Ellie chose to sit. I’m looking forward to when ... read more
Laguna Azul
Laguna Azul
Bushcamp

South America » Argentina » Santa Cruz November 26th 2013

Inzwischen bin ich nach Calafate geflogen, gestern ist die Gruppe angekommen und sie haben mir als Wiedervereinigungsgeschenk hoelzerne Stricknadeln mitgebracht. Da habe ich sofort mit der zweiten Ladung Wolle, die ANGEBLICH Alpaka ist, angefangen einen Schal zu stricken. Es gibt viele gute Nachrichten: Ich darf bis Ushuaia im Van mitfahren (Van natuerlich immer vorausgesetzt, dass keiner mehr einen Unfall hat und in den Van muss). Heute bin ich bei David als Sozia mit zum Gletscher gefahren, es ging sehr gut, er hat mir vorgeschlagen, bis Ushuaia bei ihm mitzufahren. Weiss nicht ganz sicher, ob er das so richtig ernst gemeint hat, jedenfalls hat er alles moegliche geuebt, immer mit mir hinten drauf - Schotter z.B. Auch nach Ushuaia soll ich im Van bleiben duerfen, nur darf das noch keiner wissen, weil Charles sein MR nach Chile ... read more


Puerto Moreno, Salta and Cafayate Upon arrival in el Calafate we grabbed a taxi to the the puerto Moreno glacier about an hours drive out of town. The glacier is a sheer wall of ice, 60 meters high 5 km wide and 30 km long and is truly spectacular. It is one of the few remaining advancing glaciers in the world and creeps forward at a pace 2m per day causing giant icebergs to carve from its face and crash into the lake below. We were lucky enough to witness a few of these icebergs ( ok so they weren't giant) but they still made an earthshattering bone crushing noise as they split and then tumbled into the lake below. The warm hearty shepherds pie with a crusty layer of cheese on top and the eccentric ... read more
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South America » Argentina » Santa Cruz » El Calafate November 20th 2013

Tuesday 19thNovember (Odyssey Day 11) Our departure today from El Chalten was 0820 today and we had to make a quick stop for Eamon to pick up his washing since he forgot to go back to collect it last night. They did eventually open the door for him, even though they weren’t open yet. It was our free morning entertainment as we all watched the drama from the truck. And then we were on the road to our next camp. We headed south for just three hours to the town of El Calafate. It was a rather short but scenic trip today and we arrived at lunch time. Our campsite here in El Calafate is far more sheltered than the previous one and we are all relieved that we won’t be blown away tonight!! We had ... read more
Driving
El Calafate

South America » Argentina » Santa Cruz » El Chaltén November 18th 2013

Saturday 16thNovember (Odyssey Day 8) During the night I’d been woken by the sound of cars going past our camping area. I could have sworn there were a dozen of them at least making all that noise over the gravel. When I got up in the morning it was to discover that while there were suddenly an extra 7 tents, all that noise was from only two cars… Obviously I was more tired than I thought. We had crossed a long red bridge to get to the island but I had missed the opportunity to get pictures (the chance for a hot shower took precedence over walking down to the bridge for photos, though unfortunately there was no hot water and the shower was cold… I’ll know better for next time). So going back across the ... read more
Driving Day
Driving Day
Driving Day

South America » Argentina » Santa Cruz November 15th 2013

Thursday 14thNovember (Odyssey Day 6) Sleepy drive day today. I just couldn’t keep my eyes open! Guess I didn’t sleep as well as I thought last night if I’m sleeping so much today. We were up at 0600 for departure at 0700. Our first pit stop today was at an old dilapidated road house. It was looking a little rustic and if you saw it in a movie, you would almost expect a serial killer to jump out at you… There was no water in the taps in the basins, but at least the toilets flushed. Though the fact that they had a few long mirrors around an empty room was a little odd… The landscape today was incredibly flat. There were no hills, and it was almost like the landscape had been inverted and instead ... read more
Patagonia Driving
Patagonia Driving
Bush Camp




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