Sam and E-J's Adventure

As we walked down to the bus at 6am, we arrived at the pick up point to see many clubbers walking home from a big night out! We waited for the bus for a good forty-five minutes with a few Korean tourists and other backpackers. Then at 6.45am we were off onto one of the most historic roads in Argentina, Route 40. We sadly can't tell you too much about the first few hours as we both fell straight to sleep immediately!

When we stopped for lunch we sat in the delightful setting of the petrol garage forecourt and took in the sights! We were then informed by the guide why this road was so dangerous. He told us that the road was used by few cars and travel had to be done during the day as the area is extremely barren and few places provide fuel let alone water.

The next few hours passed slowly as we took in the scenery with the scorching sun burning through the windows. We were told that the air con (which consisted of several small fans strapped to the ceiling) was broken, so we would have to suffer the heat and as the journey continued the Korean tourists kept pulling out their huge cameras at anything that moved inside or outside the bus. We both just sat back and took in the surroundings. About half an hour before our first stop we pulled over to take in the view. We were both not as impressed by the landscape as the rest of the group, perhaps we had already been spoiled by the incredible landscapes we had seen in Peru and Bolivia, but Sam took great delight in the bus drivers moustache and insisted on getting a picture with him!

At about 8 pm we arrived into Perito Moreno, a small and rather shabby town that had a minimalistic feel to it. This was accentuated as we tried to find somewhere to eat and realised that nothing was open! We therefore resolved to eating at the restaurant of our accommodation, the Belgrano Hotel, although this may sound rather splendid, it was in actual fact very basic!

The following day our bus arrived at 10am and we set off for El Chalten. As usual, we both tried to go to sleep until we stopped for lunch. Lunch was in a typical South American time frame, having been told we were to stop for twenty minutes, we stopped for one hour!

The afternoon was spent on the road and E-J soon regretted not wearing her sports bra as the road turned into a bumpy, gravel track. Due to the poor conditions we managed to obtain a puncture and had an unexpected stopover at a local farm. The stopover became amusing to both of us when we saw a Korean tourist being chased, knocked and pushed by the llamas.

As we approached El Chalten and having done over 12 hours on the bus, we managed to see the impressive sunset on a backdrop of mountains.

Finally at around half past twelve we arrived into El Chalten and after a much deserved beer, collapsed into bed.

Rising early we decided to enjoy the scenic town of El Chalten before our evening bus set off for El Calafate. The mountain ranges of El Chalten are everywhere and by walking for 5 minutes you can be totally surrounded by them. That is why Butch Cassidy and The Sun Dance Kid rested here for 3 months after robbing the bank of London, Chile.

Picking up a few sandwiches and bottles of water we decided to walk to Laguna de Torres, which was a natural lake. We set off and soon had time to saver the fine landscape of conafor trees and giant mountains with their snowy peaks.

The vast landscape was really impressive, however with the sun still rising we were starting to feel tired. Having climbed the pebbled dune we finally arrived at our destination. The area was not a disappointment, seeing the beginning of the glacier, with ice floating in the lake, it really did look spectacular.

We sat there admiring the view, eating our lunch before going down to the water. We both picked ice out of the water and manged to only hold it for a minute or two as it was so cold. Knowing that we had to be back in time for our bus we started to head back.

As we came back into the village of El Chalten we where exhausted and extremely thirsty. E-J kept telling sam "I am walking like John Wayne". The only cure for this was to find a pub and enjoy a quick pint before heading back to the hostel for the bus to El Calafate.

Sam's Comments: Awful bus journey, although the Korean tourists did provide a lot of entertainment!

E-J's Comments: The journey down here was pretty unpleasant, I think I've just about had it with South American buses! Laguna de Torres was beautiful, I'm so glad I got to see it even if it did mean a brisk five hour walk there and back and my legs killing by the end of it!