We're sad to see Bariloche disappear into the distance. Not only because the next 30 hours are going to be spent on a bus, but also because its a really lovely relaxed place, where its easy to hang out and do nothing for a couple of days to recoup some budget, but also get out and about for some great walks or water based fun on the sea. And also some of the best meat yet. We do get some great views from the front of the bus, the Patagonian Steppe (cant remember exactly what that means, but remember it from Geography) with the mountains in the distance, and the odd lake along the way. There's some great wildlife too - lots of llamas wandering across the road, more road runners, and as sun sets, lots of rabbits popping out and about. We manage to sleep quite a bit, and also get through a number of varying quality movies (I didnt think Morgan Freeman made bad movies, but jees, this one was a real turkey) but nothing can take away from the fact that 29 hrs on the same bus is way way too long. Fortunately, we saw the light early on, and have booked a three hour fight to get us back up to Buenos Aires.
El Calafate is a small town built up around the tourist industry heading for the nearby glacier. One main street full of tourist tat shops, bars, overpriced restaurants and money changers. As we fit that tourist label, we head to one of said restaurants, Ricks, for an all you can eat meat fest. Blimey its good stuff though, and endless bits of good steak (not Bariloche standard) chicken lamb & sausages (including black pudding, mmmmmmmmmm) mean that we need two bottles of wine to wash it all down. Having thought that we'd worked out portion control in Bariloche, we soon forgot all about that, and reverted to type eating far too much, but it was good.
We've two full days in Calafate, which is fortunate as there is no chance of us moving too far too soon the next morning after the over consumption of the previous evening. We're in one of the finest hostels thus far, America Del Sur, more like a hotel really, which is just as well so that we can rest of the previous nights excesses, and head off to the glacier the following day.
We do manage a wander down to the lake and see some pink flamingos hanging about. The other major animal in residence in Calafate is the dog, There are dozens of them wandering around like The Littlest Hobo looking on forlornly. Now and then, one will take a particular attraction and follow us around town waiting outside shops, tail wagging on our return. Not a little odd!
El Perito Moreno glacier is one of the most awesome sites we have seen all trip, easily on a par with the stunning scenery in New Zealand, including Milford Sound. You can pay (muchos) to hike on the glacier, have lunch on the glacier, but we go for the simple boat trip and wander through the viewing platforms. However, this is absolutely perfect. The glacier is enormous, equivalent to a 20 storey building high, and about 5 km long in total. The first view of it is breathtaking, and you're still about 30 mins away. The boat takes you up as close as possible, about 300m away, but close enough to understand the enormous natural phenomenon in front of you. Cant get any closer as periodically enormous lumps of ice crack off the side causing huge waves, and then icebergs float off down the lake. Its all very Titanic with the icebergs effortlessly gliding by. The viewing platforms give great views all along the sides of the glacier we can spend hours here just waiting for a thunderous collapse of ice. The sounds of such a huge glacier are immense too - constant cracks like gunfire echo around the place, and we're lucky enough to be there during the low season when there are far fewer tourists to get in the way of our enjoyment. A truly stunning day out.
We're both very pleased that we made it this far south to see the glacier, despite it being bloomin freezing, and pretty darned expensive too, not to mention the 29hr bus journey to get here. However, we're looking forward to heading back north on a plane for 3 hrs, to the big city where we're expecting the best meat of all, and also to put the warm fleeces and hats back into the bottom of the bags for a while.
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