Calafate & Perito Moreno glacier

Tuesday 26th January. 

After breakfast I checked out at 11.00 and had another walk round town, stopping off to get some cash and change it into Argentine pesos; same name but different value, approx. 20 to the UK pound. Then relaxed over a crepe strudel and hot chocolate in the Creperie near the hotel. At least here they presented me with a real cup of hot chocolate and not a DIY version. Stretched out my hot chocolate until 1330 when I picked up my bag from the hotel and trundled it to the bus station; no wind today but it was definitely uphill. Got on the bus at 1420 and it left on time at 1430. Glad I got my ticket yesterday since it was full. Young American guy from New York sitting next to me. Journey over more empty Patagonian grassland with just a few grazing cows until we stopped at Chilean immigration where it took about 40 minutes to process everybody. Chilean immigration was where the smooth asphalt road finished. From there it was gravel up to and beyond Argentine immigration which must be one of the most isolated border posts anywhere, basically a wooden hut with just two counters “In” and “Out”. All very simple but only one guy doing the work so it was about another 40 minutes before we set off along the gravel road which continued for about 20km until we hit the Argentine main road RN 40.

Somewhere I saw a sign showing “El Calafate 200 km”, 200 km of Patagonian emptiness, a few cows, a flock of sheep being driven by three gauchos, a few guanacos and rheas. That was it; no towns, no villages, nada! Not the most exciting bus ride in the world. Eventually we pulled into El Calafate bus station from where I found my way to Posada Larsen. This time Google maps worked despite the fact that Google had me booked into somewhere else. Posada Larsen is a bit more remote than I had expected, up a gravel road, but I received a very enthusiastic and warm welcome and the room is fine. It has a great view over the lake and it even has a kettle! After dumping my stuff, set out for dinner. El Calafate is a pure tourist town so plenty of places to eat. Settled on a pizza and pasta place, “La Lechuza” where I had a spinach ravioli and a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon. As always there was a plate of bread and dip to accompany it.

Posada Larsen

View from Posada Larsen

Calafate Berrries, from which the town is named

On the bus, almost all the passengers were backpackers with just a couple of local passengers. Tourists seem to divide into three main groups, backpackers who dominate in terms of numbers and about half of whom are serious trekkers, people on organised tours who, I suspect, are the mainstay of the larger hotels and a significant number of people in cars, who I am guessing are mainly from Chile and Argentina although they could be from further afield in hire cars. Two smaller segments are the middle-aged bikers and some independent souls in camper vans, a few of which have been transported from Germany and Switzerland. The Dutch biker I met told me it cost him €1000 to bring his bike one way so I hate to think how much a camper van costs. I guess it comes by sea rather than by air.

Wednesday 27th January

Fairly basic breakfast and pick up shortly after eight for my trip to the Perito Moreno glacier. Much bigger bus than the previous tours and much older participants, several large groups being picked up from big hotels. It's a bright sunny day, so even the grassy plains look quite pretty. Once we get towards the mountains it is spectacular and the glacier looks just like the photos in the tour promotions. After a brief halt to take photos from a distance we stopped at the main centre from where there are a series of walkways down to "balconies" which allow a closer view. Absolutely amazing but it didn't seem very active today. I had heard of huge chunks of ice collapsing at regular intervals but not today. A few small bits did come away with a bit of a noise and a splash but despite the huge visible cracks that made the ice face look quite unstable, the big pieces remained resolutely attached. The "small" bits probably weighed a few tons but they were insignificant relative to the glacier itself and were about as exciting as watching the ice come off my fridge when I defrosted it. Why don't modern fridges need defrosting? After being mesmerised by a passive glacier for an hour or so we joined a catamaran to get a view from up close. Still the glacier didn't put on a performance for us but it was when we saw a party of people trekking on the glacier that it was possible to get an idea of its massive scale. Back to El Calafate for a coffee and a brownie.

First View of the Glacier

View from the Lowest "Balcony"

Catamaran to get closer

Enough Ice for a few G&Ts

Only Realise how BIG it is when you see the Little Trekkers

Calafate is a tourist town, pure and simple. Dozens of restaurants, tour agencies and "artisanal" shops. Tours are much better promoted here; I saw a flyer for a cruise departing from Punta Arenas, which I definitely didn't see in Punta Arenas. After looking at the option of going to El Chalten for one night, I decided to extend my stay here for two more days and take a one day tour to El Chalten and the nearby Viedma lake on Friday or Saturday.

In the evening went out to Don Diego de la Noche,  a bar that sells food, and which gets a good write up in Wikitravel. All the more upmarket restaurants looked full! Ordered a lamb casserole and a glass of Malbec. As usual, I got a huge chunk of bread and, this time a taramasalata dip, to keep me from starvation until the proper food arrived. Probably made a mistake sitting at the table nearest the microphone since the guitarist/singer started before my casserole arrived. No idea what he was singing about, lost love, lost money, lost something? He gave the impression of a being a young man who suffers for his music. Put me in mind of Jake Thackeray, anybody remember him, but I don’t think he was intending to be humorous. When the waitress passed me a red envelope I realised I was expected to pay for the entertainment. The lamb pie was OK but nothing special; typical pub grub. The place didn't get any livelier by the time I left, nearly 11 so I headed back to Posada Larsen, looking into Borges & Alvarez Libro Bar along the way, also recommended by either Trip Advisor or Wikitravel, but that was fairly dead too.