Day 31 - Travel to El Calafate

Up early to leave the apartment and taxi to the airport. Had an uneventful flight south and up to Calafate with a stop in Bariloche, also up in the Andes. The snow-covered spine of the mountains slid by on our right with the aqua-colored Lakes Viedma and Argentino punctuating the brown earth. We caught a bus into El Calafate and claimed our hotel, the Kalken.

El Calafate is a small city whose main industry is tourism. It sits alongside the huge glacial Lake Argentino and is the jumping off point for hiking and glacier visiting in Glaciers National Park. The land around it is low scrub brush similar to what we saw near the Atacama desert. The glaciers carved and fill the lake with milky, blue-green, sediment-laden waters. Our flight was filled with backpackers and summer tourists. We strolled the two blocks into town and up the main street among the Sunday afternoon crowd. Had a good pizza and a bit more walking around before going back to the hotel to relax.

Two days of glacier sightseeing start tomorrow.Read more