El calafete

Our first border crossing in the van was luckily uneventful and the Argentinian customs were happy with all our vehicle documents.
We drove from Cerro Castillo via Paso Rio Don guillermo to enter Patagonian Argentina and start heading north on the famous Ruta Nacional 40 where the scenery quickly changed to vast and barren sandy steppe before arriving for three nights at El Calafete, a cute touristy town.

The majority of our first day was spent queuing with other tourists at Western Union to obtain Argentinian pesos at the blue dollar rate as well as looking around the tourist shops and restocking the van with fruit, vegetables and dairy that we weren't able to bring across the border.

The next day, we were joined by our O trek friend Augustin from Belgium to visit Glaciar Perito Moreno at nearby Parque Nacional Los Glaciares. This is the most impressive Glaciar we have seen yet measuring 35km long, 5km wide and 60m high. Despite climate change, it is one of the only stable glaciers and is continuing to grow. We were lucky enough to see some ice calving while we were here.

Recommendations:
Visit Glaciar Perito Moreno
Isabel Cocina al Disco for steak plough and wine cellar
Chocolates Patagonia for artisan alfajores
Bring extra USD or euro to exchange in cambios to prevent lengthy western union queues here

Camping:
Cabanas Camping Calafete- nice central location
YPF free camping and excellent wifi

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