We are currently in the west of Argentina, still in the region of Patagonia. We are staying in a very nice hotel in in El Calafate so we could visit the southern side of Los Glaciares National Park famous for the Perito Mereno glacier. Getting here was a bit of a mission though. We checked out of the hostel in Puerto Madryn at 10am and hung around until our very long distance coach journey to what looks and feels like temperature wise the other side of the world! We had a very comfy journey with edible food, a game of bingo and some very caring staff who made sure that the films were in English or had English subtitles and I think most people didn't have too much of a bad nights sleep. We had to change buses in Rio Gallegos in the very south of the country and had a 4 hour wait for our bus going west. I think everyone noticed the drop in the temperature as all the warm gear was put on, but it still isn't too cold though. We finally arrived at our destination at 5pm!
El Calafate is small but touristy and looks a little bit what I would imagine an alpine ski resort to look like. We are in a great hotel with views looking towards the snow capped mountains of the Andes. Lisa and I are delighted with the size of the room- 2 singles and a double bed between us. The down size of a big room is that there is less reason to keep all your stuff in a nice neat pile which makes packing up and moving that little bit harder.
Our main reason for coming here is to see the Perito Mereno glacier. It is one of the few advancing glaciers left in the world, advancing 2m a day and regularly carves huge chunks off the face. The face is 5km wide and the glacier stands to about 60m above a lake. The whole area is kitted out with lots of boardwalks so everyone's not in the same area. We spent about 3 hours just watching and listening. It was exciting and addictive to watch as you tried to guess which bit was going to fall next. When small chunks of ice fell it sounded like a gunshot, when larger pieces fell the sound echoed like thunder, then a huge splash. I thought that we would have to wait for ages to see sections collapse but I think the most we stood waiting was about 20 minutes. We were also given a spectacular finale as an entire section if the wall fell. The glacier took a long time to get to but it was definitely worth it.
Next we are heading to El Chalten at the northern end of the national park for some more glacier fun. After a 3 nights there we should finally get the truck as it has docked and is waiting to clear customs and get put back together after shipping.
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