Apart hotel Libertador El Calafate

... cold day- that was the connundrum)<br>We have been warned to NOT run away if we see a Puma. It is just possible- but they will not attack- they are afraid too. We have a group of 16. ages from 35-75 some couples, some singles- and equal sexes. good group- we get on- all Brits. Must meet up for an Argentine dinner with them now- will probably be Malbec wine and two huge steaks- nothing here is done by halves. Am enjoying the trip ...

... followed.<br><br>We arrived in El Calafate amidst the beautiful scenery of the surrounding Andes and were immediately taken by this lovely wee town. To describe it, you could almost call it a little chocolate box town, it wouldn't be out of place plonked right in the middle of Switzerland. It was lovely, full of little cosy looking chalet-style buildings with lots of restaurants (had another yummy steak one night) and little souvenir shops selling Patagonia's finest. We ...

... of the glacier wearing crampons (and clothes) for 4 hours. I thought it would be quite smooth on the top, but it was full of crevices and deep ravines. The guides took us to the middle of the glacier, which is the most stable part, but it was quite disconcerting when you heard the ice calving off from the sides, and when you were walking along narrow ridges of 30cm with 5m drops on each side. The skies were blue ...

Today was mostly a travel day... we had breakfast at the hostel with the new friends we've made here before heading to the airport to catch our short flight to El Calafate. Arrived at our hostel- an adorable place where we have our own little A-shaped wooden cabinita with a tiny little bathroom, a tiny table and chairs downstairs, and a double bed ...

... of the glacier falling off. Every few minutes you can hear a m************ followed by what sounds like a building collapsing, but most of that happens somewhere inside the glacier and is not visible to the people on shore. But the roar is magnificent. At one point a large piece started to break off and about 30 people rushed up from their seated positions and pulled out their cameras and started clicking away like they were guns and the ...

... groan and crack and every now and then, if you were lucky, you would see a chunk dramatically crack off and splash into the water. Amazing. The glacier is the largest, advancing glacier in the world, growing 2 metres per day - apparently. After we viewed the glacier from various vantage points scatted around the park. Despite being near a humongous glacier, stretching as far as the eye can see the temperature wasn't cold. We wore summery clothes ...

... The town of El Calafate is great, more developed and upmarket to P Natales but still lovely, and lots to see and do around there too. We decided that as we were in town we would do a tour of the world famous Perito Moreno Glacier.... but first something on the B&amp;B. A bit out of town but with a homely feeling is the B&amp;B - Casa de Grillos (Which is the surname of the owners but also translates as crickets - which they have in their garden.) The ...

... blue?! I must admit that I was somewhat sceptical, but it certainly made us appreciate the appearance even more. <br><br>At the end of our mini-trek we passed one last slope and then we saw a couple of tables set with glasses and a bottle of whiskey! Eduardo told us that it was time for us to have a whiskey "on the rocks" and it didn't take a genius to work out where the ice was going to come from! ;) <br><br>Sure enough, Eduardo wandered off with his ice ...