Meat is good.
Trip Start
Nov 15, 2007
1
6
7
Trip End
Nov 26, 2007
El Calafate,
Argentina
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Anyway, we hopped in a taxi cab to take us to hosteria hainen. Our cab driver had a lot to say! Those are my favorite kind, and he also switched back and forth between english and spanish and at one point told me, now you will practice your spanish and then switched back to spanish completely. We are in another town that looks like it has been built up recently, but only built half-way. There are tons of half-finished buildings. Things are a bit in disrepair. El Calafate looks fairly desert like, but in the distance are the snow-capped Andes, and not so distant is Lago ARgentina which is a lake that is almost turquoise in color.
Hosteria Hainen is great. The people are super nice and patient. One of the worst things about both Ushuaia and El Calafate is that even though they are cooler outside, every building is scalding hot inside. My theory is they are trying to keep things warm for the tourists, but in reality we are roasting our behinds off. Another side note, you do not flush toilet paper in the toilet anywhere in Argentina. And if you do, it probably wonīt go down. Some other things..... There are mangey dogs running all over the place here. Fortunately in Calafate and Ushuaia, there arenīt the stinky presents left all over the sidewalks. The water in Ushuaia was brown. Kind of gross, but it didnīt smell so it wasnīt too big of a deal for me. Any diva-ness I have accumulated through business travel over the last year has been pretty much entirely destroyed. I am used to sleeping in non'sweet sleep beds with howling wind, barking dogs and overheated radiators in houses that are half built whose water is so nasty you canīt brush your teeth with it even.
Tonight we had a really really good supper. We ate right next door to our hosteria. I had lamb with calafate berry sauce. It was really good. We all had really good meals. For me it was the best meal yet. Molly just canīt seem to get her steaks done correctly, they are always overcooked. In Calafate it is super dusty, and my contacts are driving me a bit crazy. I bought these really obnoxious really big sunglasses to wear to try to protect myself. Calafate to me is what I pictured Argentina-Patagonia as being. It is very peaceful here. We spent quite awhile this afternoon hanging out in our room drinking wine and talking. It was very fun. Tomorrow we will go on an all day boat ride through many glaciers, the biggest being Upsala (I think thatīs the name). We are here for 3 nights which is kind of nice.
So I am off to do some reading before checking in for the night. If we canīt find Turkey tomorrow, we will at least have Lamb in its place! I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving. We will miss you on this holiday.
