El Calafate

Trip Start Oct 01, 2008
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Trip End May 08, 2009


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Flag of Argentina  , Patagonia,
Sunday, April 26, 2009

Being low season, myslef and an few English backpackers have a full bus to ourselves for the 35 hour trip down the legendary Ruta 40 to El Calafate. It's phenonemal scenery, incredibly barren. There is a sense however that the isolation may not endure - a new paved highway is being built alongside our gravel road and parts of El Calafate itself are construction sites of brand new exclusive hotels. It's fast becoming a major tourist destination and the trip to the nearby Perito Moreno glacier explains why. I had scoffed a little when a fellow traveller had earlier descibed his experience here as an Epiphany - I discovered the glacier's beauty is impossible to do justice to in words. The village itself is a pleasant, friendly place with fantastic food and decent nightlife.  
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