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Another contender for one of my top ten days in the whole year, there just seems to be so many great days lately. The scenery in South America is by far the most stunning and diverse.
El Calafate is all about glaciers, which is what we came to see. At this time of the year there is a lot of snow and ice around so it is only possible to get to Perito Moreno glacier, not the biggest in the area but the most famous, I guess just because it is the most accesable to tourists. At 3km in width, 13m in depth and 60m in height it would fit Buenos Aires on top of it and it is officially huge!
We choose to get the guided tour to the national park and glacier, so got the boat ride and balcony combo, which turned out to be a great choice. The boat ride took us right to the face of the glacier and stayed nice and close for a good hour to give us all ample opportunity for photos! The walkways around the side of the glacier all be it a little slippy thanks to the ice, gave us loads of different views of the glacier and made us realise just how huge it really is, and how blue it is, beautiful in the sunlight. We had a perfect day weather wise, clear blue sky, freezing, but we were very lucky the day before people had hardly been able to make the glacier out through the clouds.
The town itself was really cute too, loads of little wooden buildings although very touristy as you would expect. Our hostel I think has to win the prize for the best yet, the most helpful staff ever, brand new and of course the amazing heated floors. If only we could stay longer! Hot chocolates were also of a very high quality everywhere in Calafate, just like drinking hot liquid chocolate, Yum!!
I'm sat now typing this blog at 2am in the morning waiting for our onwards bus, looking out at views of snowcapped mountains and the lake. The lake is brilliant and is currently iced over, so every afternoon it's packed with people ice skating. It feels like it should be Christmas. Next bus is 32 hours to La Bariloche, where we might even get in some skiing! I'm not looking forward to the journey. It's Thursday night now and we arrive Saturday lunch time. I shouldn't complain though the glaciers alone were well worth the journey...
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