From the Deep South

• Mlbierle's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from El Calafate

Trip Start Sep 01, 2008 Previous
Entry Trip End Dec 02, 2008 Next
Entry

  El Calafate, Patagonia, Argentina
Wednesday, October 29, 2008

My dearest fellow Americans:
I am writing from El Calafate, in the southern part of South America.  We left from Rosario the morning of Friday, Oct. 24, at 1 AM and took a bus to the Buenos Aires airport (about 5 hours). But our bus actually broke down about 1/3 of the way to Buenos Aires, and we had to take it back to the bus terminal and start over.  So we were a little late.  And then we left from Buenos Aires and flew to Ushuaia (in Tierra del Fuego), the southernmost city in the world. 
Our first two nights were spent in Ushuaia.  This city (the farthest south you can go before reaching Antarctica, by the by) was absolutely amazing.  Had I not known that I was in South America, I would have been surprised to find out that Ushuaia is not located in Switzerland.  Ushuaia is a little city snuggled up against the Beagle Canal and situated right in the middle of all these rocky snow-capped mountains.  Absolutely beautiful, and all the architecture is very Bavarian (remind you of anywhere in particular?).  It was like a little Frankenmuth (only not so tourist-y, more residential) in the middle of the mountains.  I'm still not sure why the architecture is so German, because there were no big stories of German or Dutch settlers... strange, though.  All the houses were different colors, and packed right next to one another.  One of the absolutely MOST beautiful places I've ever seen.  And everything was very natural, and not tainted by commercialization.  Very unlike the U.S.

Our first day there we visited an old prison in Ushuaia.  It was very interesting-- we had a very interesting tour of the prison.  It was where all the TERRIBLE criminals were taken (to the end of the world, right?) and was shut down by the president in the 40s because of inhumane treatment to the prisoners.  And all the prisoners were set free.  Anyway, our tour guide spoke excellent English, with a very Argentine-British accent (?) which was a lot of fun to hear.  We saw lots of really cool things and heard really interesting stories about the prisoners that used to be detained there. 

Then we went to dinner at an all-you-can-eat buffet (49 pesos worth... yikes)  and it was a huge parilla (grill) with lots of strange foods.  It was okay.  But I'm not much of a meat-eater, and so all the giant hunks of lamb and beef didn't really do it for me. 

We went back to the hotel that night and downloaded The Shining on my laptop so we could watch a scary movie to commemorate the coming of Halloween.  My room was on the first floor-- and the rooms were nice and cozy.  My roommate was nice, but I don't really talk to her all that much.  My three bestest friends here, though, had a 3-person suite with 2 joined rooms and 3 twin beds.  They had moved all 3 beds into the large room, right up against one another, and so it was like one giant bed.  So I spent the majority of my time in their room, and so that night we all just lied in bed and watched The Shining.  And were scared out of our minds.  But it was fun.

The next morning, we left for the National Park in Ushuaia.  It was, in a word, AMAZING.  I've never seen rocky mountains before--only the green ones of Central America.  These were very rocky and snow-covered.  We hiked for a while up the mountain, while some others from our group took a train ride up the mountain (The train to the End of the World).  I didn't take the train, because it was 80 pesos (about 27 dollars) but they said it was nice to see things all the way up the mountain.  It was beautiful, and I took some great pictures.

We spent the remainder of the morning in the park and then we were taken back to the city.  WE had lunch at a panaderia (bakery) there, where we were given what was possibly the BEST meal I've had in Argentina.  Our first course was a cheese soup, and then we were given a wonderful mixed-green salad (salads are NOT the first course here, by the way.. ever.  but at my apartment, my mom brings my salad out about 5 minutes before the rest of the meal so i can eat it.  and i eat so slowly compared to them, so it gives me a head start).  And then after the salad, at this restaurant, we had crepes stuffed with chicken, broccoli, asparagus, and smothered with a cheese sauce.  It was fabulous.  And for dessert, apple crisp with a mint-lemon sauce.  IT WAS SPECTACULAR.  Amazing.  So after lunch, we headed back around town for some souvenir-shopping.  It was great, and all the little Bavarian stores had Christmas things out.  Why do they have Christmas things out?-- we wondered.  But apparently it's not  July anymore, and no one told us.  We didn't realize it's almost November.  Christmas is quickly approaching.  The end of our program is quickly approaching.  Yipes.  Anyway, Christmas is drawing near, and being in this gorgeous little town really made it evident.  IT was wonderful, but made me a bit homesick.  I never really get too homesick in Rosario because it's so NOT like home,  and there's nothing there to remind me of fall weather or vanilla candles or evergreen trees or the changing of the seasons.  It's just summer there.

Anyway, that afternoon/evening we took a boat ride around the Beagle Canal (google it, if you want... it's the canal that goes around the southernmost tip of South America).  It was a fabulous boat, called the Elisabetta (awwww, like my sissy-poo!) and we got cafe con leche (coffee with milk) and lots of cookies.  It was great.  And the scenery was unlike anything I've ever seen before.  We were right in the middle of all the beautiful mountains, travelling through the icy waters, and we saw all these islands in the canal with sea lions bathing in the sun and PENGUINS and cormorans too!  Very exciting!  The boat trip lasted a few hours, and was just amazing.  We went back to the hotel and had dinner in the hotel itself.  I ended up falling asleep again, not in my own room, but in the room with the giant bed where all my dear friends were. 

The next morning, we were all sad to leave Ushuaia, but we hopped on a plane and went to El Calafate, just a bit north of Ushuaia and a little to the west.  El Calafate is near a giant glacier called Perito Moreno.  Our plane ride was taxing (not really) and very long (not really, either).  It lasted about 45 minutes, and we were in the small town of El Calafate.  The town is about a square mile, I'd say.  And our hotel, Alto Calafate (which means "high" or "tall" Calafate) was about a mile or two outside the town itself, and situated up on a hill where you could see the whole town.  There were about 2 trees for a hundred miles, as far as you could see.  I noticed when we were flying into the town that the moutains looked funny-- no grass, no trees, no snow.  They looked wrinkled... just dirt and a few bushes here and there.  I took pics, so you can see.  But it was strange.

Anyway, the first evening at El Calafate we took a bus into town (shouldn't walk it... too far.  and dangerous, they said... as it's dimly lit and no place to go for help) and ate at a pizza place.  THe pizza was great, and we were given big bowls of ice cream-- chocolate and Calafate (a calafate is actually a berry-- similar to a blueberry, but more purpley-red in color, and a bit different in flavor) ice cream.  To die for.  So good.

We went back to the hotel, which was by far the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in.  That includes in the United States.  It was amazing-- the most North American-ish place I've seen in this country.  Again, my three goodest friends had a suite with two rooms and they continued to move the beds together to make a giant bed.  We spent a good majority of the night snuggled in our room and watching movies.  It was fabulous. 

The next morning we woke up for breakfast (a surprisingly AMERICAN breakfast.... we were all in heaven).  I ate EGGS AND BACON!  And cereal.  And toast with CREAM CHEESE.  It was too much.  OH!  And they had TABASCO SAUCE TOOO!!! Well, they USED to have it.  Hotel has Tabasco sauce... enter Americans... Hotel lacks Tabasco sauce.  We ate our fabulous breakfast and then hopped on a bus and drove 80 km to Perito Moreno, a huge glacier.  We took a bus through the national park to see the huge chunk of ice, and it was amazing.  It took us about 2 hrs to get to the glacier, and our bus kept chuggin up the mountain like a champ.  We stopped and got on a boat and took it out right up by the glacier.  The boat trip was amazing-- to be THAT close to something so huge (the glacier is 180 feet tall, 20 miles long, and 500 feet wide) and see it right up close like that... AMAZING.  After the boat trip, which lasted about an hour, we trekked a little further up the mountain, into the national park, and ate lunch at the lookout points along the path.  It was just ice.  Ice, ice, and more ice, for as far as you could see.  And we saw about 100 HUGE chunks of ice fall from the glacier and splash into the lake.  From where we were (pretty far away yet, although we felt very close) the chunks didn't look that big.  But the sound of the chunks crashing into the water was unbelievable... like a car being thrown into an ocean from 200 feet above. And the sound of the glacier was almost frightening... most of the time, if you could tune out the sound of people talking (in many European languages, by the by... lots of French and Brits)-- most of the time, it was pure silence, a spooky silence like I've never heard before.  And the silence was only broken by chunks of ice crashing into the water.  Perito Moreno (the glacier) is the only glacier in South America that's in equilibrium-- that means that during the spring and summer (like right now), the glacier is melting and shrinking.  But during the fall and winter, the glacier is accumulating just as much ice as what was lost.  Therefore, despite global warming, the glacier remains the same size, whereas all the other glaciers in South America are losing size.  Pretty cool.  And this glacier is situated on a mountain, and is moving down the mountain at 2 meters per day.  That seems pretty fast for how big this chunk of ice is.  It was amazing.  The views were amazing... unexplainable, and unfortunately, pictures will never do it justice... like so many other amazing things (sigh).  I have pics, and the pics are amazing.  I don't like the process by which I have to upload pictures to this particular site, so I'm going to make an online Web Album using Picasa, by the by, and I'll post the address soon so you can all see where I've been.

THe whole trip was amazing, and everyone had a good time. It was a great bonding experience for EVERYONE in our program.  We got back last night (Tues. night) at about 10:30 PM.  I got home and went straight to bed.  Slept very well, and back to the old grind this morning.... So sad.

I'll write more later... I have to recount my tales of adventure in South America.  Two weeks ago (please don't be too angry) we went to see Iguazu Falls, the 2nd biggest waterfalls in South America.  And I haven't written anything about it.  I wish I'd written right away, but I figured I might as well just write about south South America while it's fresh in my mind, and tell you all about the falls very soon.  Hope all is well in USA!!! Have a great Halloween, everyone!  (by the way, the faculty here decorated our school with Halloween decor and set out big plastic pumpkins full of candy for us... even though they don't observe Halloween here... but it's AMAZING!!!)

Print this entry Share

Previous Entry Next Entry