Posts Tagged With: El Calafate

Day 256: El Calafate – Argentina – Feb 28th

We got to El Calafate pretty late last night, but that doesn’t mean we could sleep in as booked ourselves a tour of the Perito Moreno glacier, part of the South Patagonia ice mass, which as mentioned before is the third largest reserve of fresh water in the world… behind Antarctica and Greeland!!! It’s MASSIVE!

The glacier is situated perfectly in a national park, and they designed it beautifully with massive pathways overlooking the glacier, with benches every couple hundred meters for your viewing pleasure. We took a boat tour, but it really wasn’t ‘necessary’ as you get this most amazing view even on the pathways. The most awesome part about this glacier is that it is very active, and you can watch the glacier calve massive chunks of ice right into the lake, creating a thunderous clap even for the smallest of chunks! The glacier itself is mesmerizing and very attractive, leaving both of us giddy with happiness as we walked around and saw/hear the thunderous claps of ice….

Back in El Calafate, the town is small but has all the modern-day comforts you’d need. It reminded us a bit of Banff, with wooden log houses and quiet streets outside the main drag. We spent the afternoon sitting in the sun, drinking artesanal beers and eating steak along the main road. Pretty sweet =)

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Day 255: Bus to El Calafate – Argentina – Feb 27th

For the third day in a row, we had to wake up before 5am to catch a bus/plane. Being so far south has its disadvantages when it comes to getting out of there, and for us that means a really really long bus ride back north. We were headed up to El Calafate in the Patagonia region of Argentina, but we wouldn’t get there until midnight, making for a 19hr bus ride.

We had to cross the Straits of Magellan, which was much narrower and calm than was expected, and the ferry service makes it almost pedestrian compared to what it meant to cross the Straits a couple hundred years ago. Ahhh, technology.

We had a 4-hour layover in Rio Gallegos, one of the least pretty towns we’ve seen so far in Argentina, but most likely due to the poverty-stricken areas we walked through before giving up and walking back to the bus station. Gladly, there was a Carrefour supermarket next to the bus stop, and we did some shopping! Luckily, free wi-fi saves the day and we managed to blow a lot of time just surfing the net. It’s really surprising the places you’d find wi-fi when you’re traveling, especially when you think back home that you can’t even find paid wi-fi at some places!

Mexico: Free wi-fi in PARKS….yes, sitting next to the fountain with vendors selling ice cream to little kids, you can surf the internet.
Rio Gallegos: Free wi-fi in the bus station
Honduras: Free wi-fi in most places in the Bay Islands….. it’s an ISLAND IN THE CARRIBEAN!
Miami: No free wi-fi even at airport!!!!!

Anywho, we got into town around midnight, checked into our hotel who didn’t really seem like they wanted the business, telling us that they were full unless we had reservations (which we did), but from the key box it was obvious they were barely half full. Hot shower, and we were on the bed napping like babies!

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