Rincon de Los Suenos El Calafate

... we may have missed out on some things in the area, we were realising that you can't do everything in just 3 months!<br><br>I think the stress earlier in the day about sorting what we were doing meant we weren't really thinking about the glaciar until we actually got there, and when we saw it, it was breathtaking! After about an hour in the minibus we rounded the corner ...

... we were hiking at vastly different speeds. There were many unavoidable puddles and we were frigid and wet by the time we returned to camp. We stripped out of our wet clothes and hung them up to "dry" and changed into our second set of clothes. This would be the daily routine, wet clothes on by day and the other set of clothes on by night. Nothing would dry until we got to the wood-fired stoves at the Refugio Torre on the ...

... of service we got, it was great.<br><br>Anyway, we decided that for an extra 50 pesos (about a tenner) the boat trip sounded too good to miss, so we hopped off the bus and onto the boat. To say it was amazing is a complete understatement really, we were taken almost right up to the face of the glacier (about 30 metres away) and it was completely breathtaking. For one thing, it was HUGE, but that wasn't the most amazing thing. As the Perito Moreno glacier is one of very ...

... around to gather some information. There were a few interesting things to do, but of course it was terribly expensive, so we didn't go for anything except what we came for, the Perito Moreno glacier. The village in itself is completely uninteresting. Everything's fake, in some sort of artificial alpine style, the heart of the place is the casino, well it stunk. Nothing of interest. The glacier on the other hand is incredible ...

... above El Calafate and through its huge windows you have an amazing view over El Calafate and the Lago Argentino that lies behind it. Too bad it was booked out :( ... - the stuff immediatly offered to help me find another hostel, but also offered that I could sleep in the chill out area for half price - since it was already after 22:00 I decided to take this offer and luckily ...

... your shoes and a trail to follow, unlike real life, which seems to be more about slipping and sliding around. The other thing I remember about the day is one other tourist, a man in his 50s perhaps who had thick facial features and a thin frame, dressed in black and red hiking gear, and has the complexion of a vampire, ghostly white, not red-pink like mine, but still clearly Teutonic. He ...

... ein** Stunde ist imm** noch nicht uns** ganz** Bus abgef**tigt, und dabei ist das nur die chilenische Ausreisekontrolle. Die argentinische Seite kommt **st noch. Ein** d** letzten Leute in uns**** Schlange v**li**t irgendwann die Geduld und fragt den Einreisepolizisten, ob ** nicht auch seinen Pass stempeln kann, und siehe da, ** kann! Wir haetten also auch nur die Haelfte d** Zeit hi** v**bringen koennen. Unglaublich. Wir finden es lustig. Im Nachhinein. Auf argentinisch** Seite dau ...

... see the whole ice field up to the mountains is the distance. The glacier is changing all the time and they say that on average the ice in the centre moves at about 2m a day but half a metre at the edges. I had not appreciated that the glacier was very jagged and not at flat. Later in the afternoon I saw pieces of fall off with a thunderous ...

... is one of the few glaciers anywhere in the world that is INCREASING (getting bigger).<br><br>We were given an hour to soak up the beautiful views and then we were back on the bus, heading back to town. <br><br>In a way, it was like this second vista point was an 'extra', because we were happy enough leaving without even knowing about it! So to experience the north face as well really put the icing on the cake, which I guess is very appropriate for one's ...

... rest of the day, just wandering around. Had some lunch. Boo has been eating a lot of spaghetti with meat sauce. She had a steak the first night, but she's been on a spaghetti diet since then. I did get her to eat some apples, so she is getting some fruit. The food in general has been pretty good and reasonably priced. I tried my first alfajores this morning. Its cookies with layers of dulche de leche in between and then the whole stack ...