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Don´t stop till you get enough........
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Coming back from the end of the world we had to hitch some of the way to El Calafate as we heard the familiar song of booked out buses fill the bus stop at Rio Gallegos after landing at the airport. We were lucky to find the first guy who had an extremely large tow truck and traveled comfortably in style. So much in fact that it was hard to keep awake and not be rude by falling asleep in his ride. The second ride was not so comfortable but we kept ourselves amused with a couple games of chess as we were being continuously slapped in the face by the wind at 80 kms an hour. Arriving with at least 4 hours of sunlight left in the day we decided to at first, let our fingers do the talking by calling places and when that failed (after exhausting the phone directory) we walked around for the remaining 3 hours of sunlight left. Such a big town and with so many hostels, motels and hotels which were all either full to the brim or ridiculously over-priced. We managed, with some luck and arm-twisting, to stay in some dormitory style rooms specifically for builders which was actually better then some of the places that we have stayed at funnily enough.
The most visited place in all of Argentina is El Calafate for the impressive and monumental Glaciar Perito Moreno. The most active glaciar in the world growing at 100 metres a year is 14 kilometres in length, about 80 metres high and hundreds of metres wide. We stood at the edge of our seats waiting for chunks of the glaciar to crack and fall into the water making a loud and intense boom!
Having a glimpse of what life could possibly on ice, we decided to get another hit and join a cruise which takes us through Glaciar National Park and see Glaciar Upsala and a couple of others. We had lunch with hundreds of others spread throughout the shore of the lake, which had countless mini icebergs in odd shapes and sizes. The most memorable thing about the whole cruise was not the shear size of the glaciar and the bits that have broken off the size of basketball fields (we had to stay at least 850 metres away from Glaciar Upsala for our own safety as any closer could mean a capsized boat from a tidal wave caused!). In Puerto Madryn, we met up with Alix and Humbert once again and rented a car to go see the Magallen penguin colony in Punta Tombo (200 kms south). When driving to the coastline after paying the entry to the reserve, Humbert said "Look there's a penguin crossing the road".....and there was! We slowed down to a snails pace and realised that we were surrounded by penguins. A smelly lot, especially when the colony consisted of half a million of the buggers. They didn't seem to mind the mass of tourists visiting and photographing them. A thin wire that came down to our knees fenced us off but they happily walked underneath them and continued onwards. The funniest thing ever is seeing them cross the street. Peeking, cautious and nervous, they scurry across the road from one bush to the next. Now and again you would find one that doesn't care, but that was rare.
Buenos Aires.......what can I say.....everything is within reach. Great food, museums, dance clubs and drinking holes (although we have yet to frequent any) all spread throughout the city. With food that would rival that of Sydney, and at half the price! Cool museums such as Museum of Arms, which housed the biggest pistol, gun, arrow, cannon, bazooka..... anything to do with war from the 15th century onwards was exhibited in this museum that should be renamed George Bush's playland. There's a whole suburb dedicated to antiques, from the weird to the immaculate, you could get just about anything except the problem was sending it back. Although we did manage to send back a 10 kg box at an affordable rate. Shopping malls of boutiques at Myer prices and pedestrian streets, 2 that we have come across, that stretched 20 city blocks! Luckily for us it has all become an affordable destination since the devaluation of the Argentinean Peso some years ago. Street performers doing their Tango, sellers occupying every metro train with offerings of bracelets, calculators and anything else you could think of, pollution thick in parts with more then a hundred bus routes x-crossing each other under the hot Argentine sun; 100% Buenos Aires. We decided that Tango was one of the sexiest and also confusing dances to dance after our 2-hour lesson on the roof terrace of the hostel with a few other couples that were eager to learn the dance of love. Content to see it then rather to be in it, we went to a long running show not that far from us in San Telmo called El Viejo Amacen. Running since the 60s, the show was full of music, dance, culture, had a maestro and of course a diva! Champagne on arrival kicked it off and we were blown away by the diva's refined and ruling voice that came from her 70 year old lungs. She quenched her lips with the microphone only to wet them occasionally with champagne....class all the way! Not to mention the soccer. We went to see Independiente play and it felt like we were at the worlds biggest karaoke gathering. Fans screaming, ranting, raving, stamping their feet and fists in the air, all in unison. The atmosphere was intense but friendly.
With our pockets being emptied quickly of our hard earned cash we have arranged for a ticket out, to head north to Iguassu.......Hopefully we can cool off there until we are hit again with another fever pitched Carnavale in Brasil! Ciao chicos y chicas, buen dia y bien suerte. More thumbnails ...
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