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The South American Odyssey
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The South American Odyssey

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    Back to the South shore

    26 janvier 2018, Argentine ⋅ 🌙 14 °C

    Hristo and I continued on the yellow trail. It was by no means easier compared to the red one. This too had steep sections, its just that it was comparatively shorter. We managed to reach the viewpoint by 1 pm. We still had 30 min for the boat to pick us. From here we could see the glacier a bit further away. We hurried back and managed to reach 10 min before the boat. The girls too had made it back so we managed to have our tea and coffee before taking the boat. The route back was the same way as in the morning.En savoir plus

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    Chorillo del Salto

    26 janvier 2018, Argentine ⋅ ⛅ 4 °C

    On the way back, just before the village of El Chalten, the bus driver asked if any of us wanted to stop at Chorillo del Salto waterfall. Many of us including us wanted to, so he stopped there for a few minutes while we got off and walked the 300 mts to the falls. Melinda and Maria stayed back since Melinda was having pain in the ankle and Maria felt tired. It was a nice small waterfall. We stopped for a few minutes and then returned to continue back to El Chalten.En savoir plus

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    Dinner La Senyera

    26 janvier 2018, Argentine ⋅ ⛅ 4 °C

    We returned to El Chalten by 4 pm. That gave us about 5 hours of light still left in the day. Hristo wanted to do the Lago Torre trek since that was the only long trek left in El Chalten and we had decided to go to Calafate next day. None of us wanted to do it so he went alone while I went to the bus station to book our places for the next day morning bus to El Calafate. Coming back I took the opportunity to settle the bill at our hotel as well.
    At about 7:30 pm, we went for our dinner to the La Senyera restaurant that Hristo and Maria had found w day ago and had highly recommended it. The food was fantastic again!!
    Around 9:30 pm, Hristo too came back from the trek. He had reached the coast of the Lago Torre and had seen icebergs floating in the lake.    En savoir plus

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    La Leone

    27 janvier 2018, Argentine ⋅ ⛅ 4 °C

    We took the morning bus to El Calafate. It stopped on the way at La Leone.
    Near here, on the eastern bank of the river was the largest known dinosaur, with a body weight of about 65 tons, the Dreadnoughtus schrani . Its name comes from the English word "dreadnought" - the one that fears nothing.
    The building dates from 1894 and has been restored. The original was built by the Jensen family, on the river that gives it its name.
    The celebrated American bandits and cowboys Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid would have stopped here in 1905.    En savoir plus

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    Reached El Calafate

    27 janvier 2018, Argentine ⋅ ⛅ 4 °C

    We continued further South along the river Rio La Leona first next to the Laguna Viedma and then along the Lago Argentino. We reached El Calafate at 10:30 am.
    Just before getting off, we had noticed that the bus terminal was a bit outside of the town with not that many options to stay nearby. So, we decided to look up a place to stay in the center of the town via booking.com and then directly take a taxi there. At the bus terminal we got a wifi connection and were able to look up and book a hostel next to the main street.En savoir plus

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    2Our hostelThe fondue pot

    The fondue lunch

    27 janvier 2018, Argentine ⋅ 🌬 17 °C

    After booking the place, we took a taxi and were off. At the hostel we had an issue with our booking. The reservation we had done showed one room and 4 beds but they had 4 beds in different rooms. We wanted to stay together in one room so we decided to look around for some other place to stay. Luckily, just next door at Hostel Calafate, they were having a last minute discount offer and there was a quadruple room available at almost the same price but a better and bigger room. By the time, we were done with the checkin etc, it was 12:30 pm. We went to the main street nearby to have our lunch. The food was extremely expensive everywhere and the only options available were either pastas or pizzas. We finally settled for a place with fondue. The fondue portions they had were for 2 people only. I didn't feel like one so I ordered lentils stew, Melinda ordered a fish and Hristo and Maria had the fondue. The cheese was fantastic but the place was quite expensive and they even had a cover charge for sitting 🙄En savoir plus

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    2Exhibition of classic American stuff
    2Exhibition of classic American stuffChurch at El Calafate2Frozen yogurt barsDance practice in the square

    Shopping for a tour

    27 janvier 2018, Argentine ⋅ 🌬 19 °C

    After lunch, we went around the main street looking for tour operators to take us to the different places nearby. The one and the main thing to do nearby was the massive Perito Morano glacier wall and not much else. So, according to the draft plan, we needed to be here just 2 days but we decided to continue 2 more days till 30th Jan when Melinda had her return flight from El Calafate only.
    Melinda had wanted to return at the end of Jan and her return flight to Stockholm was booked from Lima since we had hoped to be in Peru by end of Jan. Due to the unforeseen delays in Patagonia, we still hadn't reached the Southernmost we wanted to go. So, to reach Lima, she would need to reach either Santiago or Buenos Aires for a connection. Since, we were still in Argentina, the cheapest option had been for her to fly to Buenos Aires and then via Uruguay to Lima. But to fly to Buenos Aires, the only airport in this region was in El Calafate where we were now.
    All the tour operators we went to had almost the same prices for the individual tours but, if combined with others, some were ready to drop the price a bit. Then, there was the issue of payment by cash only. The ones we found were the cheapest in the combination prices, didn't accept cards or asked for upto 20% extra if paying by card. We were always levied a charge for cash withdrawal in Argentina so we would prefer card payments instead. It was a mess but we wanted to find out about all the possible combinations. By now, the girls had lost their patience so we left them at one of the local shopping street and went around from shop to shop noting down the prices individually and in combination, with and without card payments.
    Finally, we managed to book 2 tours, one for the Perito Morano glacier for the next day and the 'Rios de Hielo' (Rivers of Ice) for the day after and then half a day on 30th to do the nearby cave with old paintings.
    Another thing that we decided was to stop our travel further south since then we would not be able to make it to Barranquilla (Colombia) in time for the carnival between 7-14 Feb. So, we too started looking for options to fly from El Calafate up Northwards via Iguazu on the Argentina - Brazil border to Colombia.    En savoir plus

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    Evening at El Calafate

    27 janvier 2018, Argentine ⋅ 🌬 14 °C

    Melinda who was feeling a bit ill went back to the hostel for a nap. After fixing up the tours etc., we decided to take a break for a while and have some Mate at one of the local cafes while.
    Mate is a traditional South American caffeine-rich infused drink. It is prepared by steeping dried leaves of yerba mate in hot water and is served with a metal straw from a shared hollow calabash gourd. The straw is called a bombilla. The mate leaves are dried, chopped, and ground into a powdery mixture called yerba, which means "herb". The bombilla acts as both a straw and a sieve. The submerged end is flared, with small holes or slots that allow the brewed liquid in, but block the chunky matter that makes up much of the mixture.

    The place where we sat for the mate was in a lovely place with lots of artesanal shops all made from wood. The mate we got here, turned out to be the mate tea and not the real mate, so we spent about 20-30 minutes only before going to the hostel to pick up Melinda on the way to the Laguna Nimez (a wetland park where there are flamingos) right next to the Argentina lake and in the town itself.    En savoir plus

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    Along Lago Argentino

    27 janvier 2018, Argentine ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    The 4 of us walked about 2.5 kms from the hostel to Laguna Nimez. It turned out to be quite different than what we had imagined. It was a wet marshland next to the Lago Argentino but the park was not like an ordinary city park. It had an entry fee and timings. We reached there around 8:15 pm. It was closed by then. The entry fee too was quite steep. We could see tge flamingos in the distance bit there was fencing all around. We decided to come there the next day.
    Having nothing else to do, we decided to go for a walk along the Lago Argentino. It was extremely windy and quite cold along the shore. We walked for a few kms and then decided to get back into the town where it was much warmer and quite less windy. We had our dinner at one of the restaurants on the main street and then went back to the hostel to sleep.    En savoir plus

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    To Perito Moreno

    28 janvier 2018, Argentine ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    Everything in the town of El Calafate was built around the tourist industry. All catering to the hordes of tourists coming to see the Perito Moreno glacier. As we figured a day earlier, nothing was cheap or even reasonable here. Even a short drop off and pick up to the glacier region about 80 kms away costed between 2000 - 2500 ARS. Our taxi driver from the bus station to the hostel, had offered us a drop off and pick up for 1800 ARS for the 4 of us, so eventually, we had called him in the the evening to hire him for the day.
    He was there on time at 9 am. We all were ready having had our breakfast at the hostel. The drive was pretty insignificant, typical of the Patagonian steppe. Very flat and no outstanding feature with hardly any flora. We drove along the Southern shore of Lago Argentino.

    Lago Argentino, the largest lake in the country. It is the largest lake entirely Argentine with an area of ​​1,415 km 2 . It is 187 m high and its maximum depth is 500 m, the average is 150 m and its coasts are 640 km long. It is fed by the Southern Ice Field through several glaciers (Upsala, Mayo, Ameghino, Onelli, Spegazzini and the famous Perito Moreno among others).
    Its waters have a particular milky celestial color due to the very thin slime glacier in suspension. It is also common to see ice floes from the glaciers, wandering by their surface, driven by the winds of the west. Ice contributes to its waters having a surface temperature below 4°C throughout the year.
    On the way, we had more or less clear skies with some high clouds but we could see rain in some of the far off valleys. Our driver told that due to the glaciers in this region, there are a lot of microclimates in the different parts. This area also forms the transition plane between the steppe and the Andes topology.    En savoir plus

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    Mirador Curva De los Suspiros

    28 janvier 2018, Argentine ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    Around 10:30 am we reached the entrance of the national park. We paid the criminally high entry fee of 500 ARS per person in cash.
    Argentina is one of those countries that are hell bent on killing the golden goose. Every transaction happens only in cash and to get the cash the ATMs charge a pretty high withdrawal fee per transaction and above that, the max one can withdraw in one transaction is a measly 1500 ARS (approx). So, do whatever you can, you are gonna get ripped one way or the other.
    The Southern arm of the Lago Argentino on this part of the route is much less blue in color and is more whitish. This is mainly due to this smaller section of the lake being walled off from the rest of the lake by the glacier tongue and a higher concentration of the minerals than the glacial slime.

    Our 1st stop was at Mirador Curva De los Suspiros (The viewpoint - Curve of the Sighs). Here it is pretty obvious why the place has this name. Its the 1st sight of the impressive glacier wall that forms the Perito Moreno. One can only stare and sigh at the impressive sight. From this viewpoint, we could see the Southern wall of the glacier. We stopped here for a few minutes. It was quite windy and the air coming off the glacial ice was piercing. The sight though, was worth every moment.    En savoir plus

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    North Lago Argentino

    28 janvier 2018, Argentine ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    A few meters from the Curve of the Sighs is the small boat port that is used to take boat rides to the Southern glacial wall. It was raining a bit when we started from the Curve of the Sighs and we could see a lovely rainbow over the glacier wall.
    The road then continues on the peninsula and soon one can see the North section of the Lago Argentino again. Immediately, we could see the difference, in that, this side of the lake has extremely blue water.    En savoir plus

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    Paseo del Bosque

    28 janvier 2018, Argentine ⋅ ⛅ 3 °C

    Our driver dropped us off at the restaurant at the end of the road. The viewing balconies are easily accessible from here. The plan was to walk along the the green walkway through the Paseo del Bosque (Forest Passage) to the Lower Balcony towards the South wall of the Perito Merino glacier and then move on over the Yellow track over the glacier wall and then the Blue track towards the North wall of the glacier wall.
    From the restaurant, we could see the top of the glacier wall. It was extremely beautiful. We could see deep into the cracks of the lovely blue ice of the glacier. We walked on the wooden walkways into the forest. These are very lovely paths, nicely made and very well maintained.    En savoir plus

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    South wallThe North wallThe full Perito Moreno glacier2

    Perito Moreno - Lower Balcony

    28 janvier 2018, Argentine ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C

    The path through the forest lead us to the Lower Balcony. From here, we could see the Southern wall of the famous Perito Moreno glacier. From the lowest pathway on the balcony, we could see the full glacier. The left side was the South wall of the glacier. To slight right was the part where the glacier blocks off the Lago Argentino and further right is the very impressive North wall of Perito Moreno.
    There is a strip devoid of vegetation that exists between the coastal limit of the forest and the surface of the lake this is due to the floods caused by the Perito Moreno Glacier, that kill the vegetation.
    The periodic advance of the glacier makes its front of ice stop against the rocky cliff, closing the "channel of the icebergs" that joins the Brazo Rico del Lago arm and the South arm of Lake Argentino with the main body of the lake.
    The glacier then acts as an ice dam, containing the waters to the south, whose level rises and floods the low areas of its coasts (can lead to unevenness up to 21 m in height).
    Finally, the pressure of the dammed water undermines the ice and fissures it. The ice expands until the warmer waters beneath undermine it and cause a calamitous implosion, sending tsunami-like waves on to the terminal moraine. The ice cap is broken and in an impressive spectacle the south arm is emptied.

    When we were there, the glacier wall was tightly set against the rock on this side for almost 8 years so it could start breaking any time.    En savoir plus

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    Ice chunk falling into the lake
    Ice chunk falling into the lakeThe wave hitting some icebergsThe central part blocking off the 2 sections

    Cracking of the glacier

    28 janvier 2018, Argentine ⋅ 🌧 4 °C

    We were still on the Lower Balcony when we heard cracking noises like the sound of rifle shots. It was the sound of the ice cracking inside the glacier. In a few moments, a huge chunk of ice fell down from the North wall into the lake on our right side. I was able to get some of the action in pictures. At the end of the fall, there was a small tsunami formed by the ice that had fallen. The wave hit the shore in a few seconds and sent a spray high up in the air.En savoir plus

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    South and Central wall of Perito Moreno

    28 janvier 2018, Argentine ⋅ 🌧 4 °C

    From the lower balcony we had a panoramic view of the full glacier wall. It was an imposing sight. That near the ice, we could see how huge it was. We reached the nearest at the central part where we were just about 180 mts from the wall. All the while, we could hear the cracking sounds of the ice every few minutes. Most of it was deep inside the glacier.
    Just when we reached the central part, we heard a loud cracking on the South face and a huge chunk of ice fell from the top of the South wall. I was able to get the last few seconds in a video.    En savoir plus

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    2Condor flying over the glacier

    Weather change at the North end

    28 janvier 2018, Argentine ⋅ 🌧 4 °C

    When we reached the North face of the glacier, the weather changed very suddenly. There was light shower and the icy winds picked up. There was no shelter in this area so we stood towards the back of the walkways near the edge of the hillside behind us. That afforded some protection from the rain and we were able to eat some of the packed food we were carrying with us. We wanted to stay here for a while to give us a better chance of seeing the calving of the glacier.En savoir plus

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    Calving of Perito Moreno

    28 janvier 2018, Argentine ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    The rain clouds disappeared as quickly as they had appeared. Within a few minutes, the rain stopped and we had a clear view of the glacier wall again. And then it happened!!
    We heard a few cracks like rifle shots firing and then a section of ice wall right in front of us broke and fell into the lake. It created a lot of noise and huge waves formed where the ice went into the water. It was a mesmerizing sight. We managed to get it on video.
    It was so breathtaking that we decided to stay a while more hoping to see another one. On the other hand, we were getting a bit late for our pickup. Caught between the two, we waited for a while and then we were lucky to see it one more time, albeit a smaller one this time. Given a choice, we would have stayed there the whole day. This place is truly amazing.    En savoir plus

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    Blue track

    28 janvier 2018, Argentine ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    After the calving, we could see the beautiful deep blue of the ice below the chunks that had broken off. It was like a photoshopped sight :)
    It was about 1:30 pm when we eventually managed to pry us off the wondrous sight. We quickly walked along the blue track towards the end point of the balconies where we had agreed with our driver to meet between 1:30 and 2 pm. Along this track, we could see the full majesty of the North wall of the glacier. It was very imposing and humbling at the same time. Beyond the wall, we could see the fjords in the Lago Argentino. Towards the end of the track, we reached the boat port that is used for boat trips to the glacier. There were quite a few floating icebergs in this area.En savoir plus

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    Back to El Calafate

    28 janvier 2018, Argentine ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Around 2 pm, we reached back to the parking. Our driver was waiting for us there. We freshened up a bit and then were on our way back to El Calafate. By now, the sky had cleared up quite a bit and we could enjoy the sights of the morning again.
    We reached back around 4:00 pm and used the rest of the afternoon walking around the town and relaxing a bit.    En savoir plus

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    Francisco MorenoElm tree (Alamo)Hawthorn fruits

    Laguna Nimez again?

    28 janvier 2018, Argentine ⋅ 🌬 17 °C

    Around 6, we started walking towards the Laguna Nimez. We had missed this the day before, so we gave ourselves about 2 hours to see the flamingos today. The entrance was open when we reached there and the people working there at the ticket counter were very knowledgeable and even knew English. On conversing with them, we realized that even if we pay and enter, we would never be close to any flamingos since it was a protected area and the track passing through the marshland was keeping a distance of at least 200 mts from where the flamingos were. Added to that, the high cost of entrance, made the decision to not go in easier. There was a telescope setup at the reception to see the flamingos up close. It was free to use so we watched the flamingos through it and then came back to town. On the main street, we went to the office of the National Park rangers. They were celebrating the 80th anniversary and so were open for free. Inside, we saw the statue of Francisco Moreno.
    The Perito Moreno Glacier, that we had visited earlier this day, was named after the explorer Francisco Moreno, a pioneer who studied the region in the 19th century and played a major role in defending the territory of Argentina in the conflict surrounding the international border dispute with Chile.
    Perito Moreno (perito means "specialist, expert") has been credited as one of the most influential figures in the Argentine incorporation of large parts of Patagonia and its subsequent development.
    Inside the compound, there were many trees and bushes from all over the world, property labeled even in English.    En savoir plus

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    2A mate pot and bombilla
    2A mate pot and bombilla2Melinda tries mateMaria tries her mate

    The Mate experience

    28 janvier 2018, Argentine ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    It was around 8:00 pm by the time we came out of the National Park office. We decided to try proper mate. Till now, we had always had mate in the form of tea and that had not impressed any of us. Now we wanted to try the real stuff. A day before we had seen a nice panadería (bakery) with some fabulous cakes and mate available for drinking, so we decided to go there and give it a try.
    Now, none of us really knew how to order it or drink it so when the lady came to take our order, Hristo ordered a mate. Maria wanted to try mate as well, so she asked if she could share it with Hristo. The lady suggested that she'll get an extra thermos of hot water and they could have a common pot. Hristo wanted the whole pot for himself, so Maria ordered a separate one for herself and I too wanted to try it out, so I too ordered one. This, we later learnt was extremely stupid or more appropriately, ignorant of us. We ended up having 3 mate pots, with 3 pots of extra mate, 3 thermoses of hot water and 3 baskets of biscuits, along with the cakes we had ordered separately, on our table 🤤🤤
    Then we tried to drink the mate like a herbal tea and how we liked the taste of it can be clearly seen in the pictures 😂😂😂 It was extremely bitter and with each sip, we could feel a kick straight to the head 😁😁
    It was later during the evening when Maria was stirring her mate herbs in the pot and 2 local ladies sitting on the couch next to us noticed her and just couldn't stop themselves from coming over and explaining that this just wasn't the right way to drink mate 🤣🤣 They knew a bit of English and that's how we learnt the right way to drink mate 😉
    So, here's how one drinks mate... Never ever stir the mate. That's a cardinal sin. Fill the pot 3/4 up with the mate herbs, then put 2 sips of hot water in. Wait a few seconds and drink the 2 sips. Then pass the communal pot and bombilla to the next person. They put another 2 sips, wait a while, sip the 2 sips and then pass it on. The biscuits in the basket are for the common consumption of everyone on the table. So, we should have ordered only 1 mate and a thermos each only 😁
    After getting the technique right, the mate tasted much better and the caffeine kick was a bit more controlled. But, the quantity of mate we had ordered meant that we had a pretty high dose of caffeine overall and the aftereffects were pretty obvious quite late into the night 😂😂😂    En savoir plus

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    Lago Argentino
    Lago Argentino

    Off to Rios Del Hielo tour

    29 janvier 2018, Argentine ⋅ 🌬 17 °C

    For this day's tour, we had a bus pickup in the morning at 7:30 am. As planned, the bus was there on time. We went around the town to pick up the rest of the people for the tour. The skies were clear when we headed out from town. The initial part of the route for about 35 kms was the same as from the day before after which, we again reached the transition zone where the local microclimates started dominating and we had rains in the valleys leading into the Lago Argentino. The sun was behind us, so we saw some lovely rainbows once again this day. We even saw a double rainbow.En savoir plus

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    22Devil's Throat

    Puerto Bandera

    29 janvier 2018, Argentine ⋅ 🌬 17 °C

    The start of the tour was from Puerto Bandera on the Southern shore of the Northern section of the Lago Argentino. We reached the port at around 8:30 am. It was quite cold and freezing in the light rain that was coming down when we reached there. Despite the rain, there was sun shining through from the East. We climbed on to the catamaran and started on our journey into the fjords forming branches from the Lago Argentino. Each branch of the fjords end up in different glacier tongues of the Southern Glacier Field and these were what we were waiting to see on the day. The initial ride took us past the Devil's Throat, a narrow strip of the lake where the land on both the sides juts into the lake forming a small opening into the fjords beyond.En savoir plus

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