El Calafate

Monday 20th December - Saturday 25th December 2010

We left Puerto Natales for El Calafate at 08.30 and went through both lots of Customs and into Argentina in under an hour. Considering we were on a full 48 seater bus this must be some sort of record!  The trip took 7 hours in total and we settled into Hostal Buenos Aires, nice and comfortable and only 1 1/2 blocks from the bus terminal.

Next day we wandered round the laguna with flamingos, ducks etc and picked Hanne up from the airport. We ate at a pizza restaurant and continued to be amazed at how expensive Argentina has become. We earlier discovered that someone had been trying to use our credit cards on line when we tried to use them to book the Glacier Mini trekking trip. After a very expensive telephone call to the UK we found out that the bank had blocked all of these so that was not an issue but we had to let them block the cards and send us new ones, to Tavizna and then Cordoba......Bummer. It totally peed down for 4 hours and was not warm.

Next day found us wandering around in El Calafate and trying to get cash from 1 of the ATM´s. There are 5 in total and only 1 had any money. You can only take out 1000 pesos per day and with no credit cards, this becomes a problem. Not to be outdone we transferred funds into HC´s UK Nationwide account and she could then also get money out.

El Calafate exists to only service tourist visits to Perito Moreno Glacier. As such it is full of hotels, hostels, restaurants and travel agencies but the houses and gardens are really nicely maintained and wood features widely. Supermarkets are not allowed to give or sell plastic bags  It peed down for 5 hours.

Next day in good weather we had a full day including mini trekking (90 mins) on the Glacier. Firstly on the bus the 90 kms and then on a boat to the face of the glacier. Then across the lake to start the trekking on the glacier and get your crampons on. I was fine going up the hills but no good going down and needed help. Marianne and Hanne did good work.  Then we went back to the refugio to eat our home made lunch and at 15.15 we took the boat back. We had about an hour on the walkways with the face of the glacier very close( new since Steffen and Lise were there) and very well made as was the cafeteria. All in all the Nacional Park has spent its money on providing excellent facilities. After this tiring day I cooked curry chorizo with green and red peppers. Hanne´s face was very red. She had forgotten to put sun block on. We also had to borrow some shades from the bus driver for her It would have been very silly not to have sun glasses on the glacier! Amazing day with sunshine all the way!

Next day we were all candidates for the Rudolph Red Nose Reindeer prize..Ianne and I went for a little walk and HC slept in. Again all ATM´s except one were empty. We spoke to Lise and Coby on the hostel Skype with no picture from us possible. The hostel is not doing anything special for Christmas. Weather sunny and just a little sweater needed. Xmas dinner tonight at El Cucharon. We had to pay a deposit to secure a table and the set price is ARS230 , 3 course, not Christmas food, excluding booze. This price was enough. The restaurant was full of tourists with people being turned away. Nice food then some free fizz and sweet cakes , sweet bread and sugared peanuts. Value for money would have to be questioned but not ouch! On the way home at 12 midnight the fireworks started. My God they do like a nice firework! The hostel had some free cider and sweet cakes. All I wanted was a cup of coffee.

Summary El Calafate. It is nice but expensive and they need to sort out the ATM situation for the thousands of tourists who come to see the Perito Moreno Glacier. Again it is a one trick pony of a town with the Glacier as the only attraction. Next El Chalten (resident population about 500), the trekking capital of Argentina and rumour has it even more expensive than El Calafate. Holy peso Batman, can this be true? To find out the answer, be sure to tune in to the next episode of this blog...