El Calafate and Perito Moreno Glacier

When we finally arrived in El Calafate we were both relieved to be off the dreaded Route 40 having suffered cramped legs during the last part of the journey. By now we were hobbling from the stiffness in our legs after our long, five hour walk in El Chalten. We found our hostel and at 11pm headed to a restaurant for a late meal.

The town of El Calafate had a similar feel to Bariloche, full of wood and stone built buildings giving it a kind of swiss or ski resort feel.

We also noticed how the place again catered for the America tourist with all of it's souvenir shops and clothing gear, branded with the words Patagonia or El Calafate. We found the huge, modernized cement structure of the town's casino to be an interesting feature, situated slap, bang in the middle of the town. It's style of structure really did not fit in with the rest of the place.

Typically we chose a steak restaurant and although we thought we were only getting half a bife de Lomo, it turned out to be enormous!

This was another amazing steak to add to the list and the restaurant itself was also great with the waiters full of banter. We got back to our hostel around 1am and prepared ourselves for our mini trek on the glacier the next day.

Surprisingly our early start was met with an efficiently organized transport to the glacier, which actually collected us (for once) bang on time. After an hour an half we arrived at the first view point of the glacier and it was an incredible sight. It literally looked like a block of ice that had been planted in the middle of the lake between two mountains.

As we got closer, the site became more and more impressive, and surprisingly the temperature around us stayed warm. We then boarded a boat that took us very close to the spectacular glacier, which close-up looked so blue and so mesmerizing. The closer we got the more unbelievable it looked and the way that it was formed in the lake, with such straight angles made it look almost artificial.

We learned that this glacier is constantly moving forward, but does not show, as big chunks of ice are constantly falling from it everyday. Also, the glacier is made from the snow on the mountain behind and it takes 10 years for the snow to compress into ice and a further 400 years for it to finally reach the front of the glacier.

As the boat drove up and down the side of the glacier, we could hear a few sounds similar to explosions, which were pieces of ice falling into the water from the other side and also sounds of cracking, as the heat in the air caused the glacier to constantly crack. It was fascinating!

The boat then dropped us off on the left side of the mountain, where we were put into groups and met the guide that was going to take us onto the glacier. After a short talk about the glacier's history, crampons were fastened to our shoes and we found ourselves setting foot onto the wondrous ice.

When we first stepped onto the glacier the sensations were so strange, we felt as though we should fall down or slip over and yet the crampons really helped us to stick to the ice. We were given a brief instruction about how to walk in these potentially lethal shoes and slowly made our way up the path.

As we walked around the glacier traveling up and down the curves, it became almost magical when all we could see was ice everywhere.

The glacier looked so blue and so clean from a distance, but walking along it, we could see a layer of think dirt resting all over it, which had been blown onto it from the mountain. Also, the cracks in the ice were the most intense blue and seemed to go so far in depth.

The guides were incredibly thorough in their touring, making sure that everyone followed the clear path they were making and digging holes in the ice, to create steps for us to climb up and down when it was too steep. They would also act like barriers, standing on the crest of a lip, while we carefully walked up and down past them.

After a two hour trek, we were beginning to feel like pros and wanted more of a challenge and just as we walked down one of the final lips of the glacier, we were greeted with a surprise. Sitting in the middle of the glacier was a wooden box and a table with several whiskey glasses on it. Our guide proceeded to open the box to reveal a bottle of whiskey, he then knocked a load of ice off the glacier, sprinkled it into the glasses and topped them up with a large amount of beautiful whiskey. We all cheered and enjoyed the deliciously frozen drink.

The guide then offered more and after Sam's third strong glass, he thought he'd better stop as he was beginning to feel a little light footed. The last stretch of walk back to dry land seemed much easier and more relaxed, especially for Sam, who felt as though he was gliding along the ice.

When we made it back to the mountains edge, we had forty minutes to sit back and enjoy the magnificent view of the glacier. At this point, most people had become quite used to it, so retreated to an indoor area, but we both sat on the cliff edge in ore of the beautiful structure before us. We sat there listening to the cracking sounds and watching enormous pieces of ice fall into the water, which then followed with an incredible explosion of sound, half a second later.

We then caught the boat back and were driven to the other side of the glacier where the main view point is, that everyone can visit. We found this side to be equally impressive, though not as special as before, as we had been able to appreciate the other side all by ourselves. This side also showed a greater dimension of the glacier and how far back it stretched to the snowy mountains behind. It truly was a spectacular sight.

After the bus journey home we went out for a bite to eat at an incredibly over priced pasta restaurant and decided to try our luck at retrieving our money at the local casino down the road.

With 3 pounds to spend each at the roulette table, Sam immediately put it all on black and lost. E-J on the other hand, had far more success with the numbers. Winning back double her amount. The night went on for some time with E-J repeatedly handing Sam several chips, which he then proceeded to lose. Finally, E-J feeling she had paid for her meal, decided to cash in what she had won, Sam was disappointed that she hadn't gone with his instinct and put it all on black again.

The next day we had nothing planned, so we spent it wandering around the small town, looking in the overpriced souvenir and clothes shops and dealing with admin. Realizing that this place literally drained money as fast as we could transact it, we tried to keep our activities to a minimum. We ended the day with a few beers in a lovely, local wooden bar and then returned to the steak house from the first night, for another incredible steak. We were not disappointed, as this steak was the best to date!

We both then calculated that Sam was now on his 16th steak since being in Argentina, and seriously, we needed a break from red meat!

Having enjoyed the outcome of the night before, E-J suggested that we repeat this and win our money back at the casino. Again, spending no more than 3 pounds on our chips, Sam repeated his same usual mistake of betting it all at once. More patiently, E-J wasn't having much luck either until she was down to her last chip and managed to win four times as much back, making herself very pleased with the final outcome.

The next day, we left for the airport of El Calafate reasonably early, where we would catch a airplane to Buenos Aires and then another onto Mendoza.

Sam's comments: El Calafate, was a pretty dull town but the Glacier was amazing, by far the best free Whiskey I have ever had!!

E-J's comments; I found El Calafate to be a very pretty little town, but sadly too expensive for backpackers. The glacier was simply spectacular, words can't really describe it as you have to see it for real; All your senses are aroused and it makes you really appreciate the magnificence of the place. I am so glad I forced Sam to go so far South!