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The bus trip from El Chalten to Calafate was uneventful and the scenery not really much to write home about. Santa Cruz is a very arid environment and nothing much animal or plant-wise can survive there. It is the biggest province of South America, but has a population of only 2 000 000 and Buenos Aires has a population of 12 000 000. The colour of the water of the rivers and lakes were a striking aquamarine against the very brown and yellow background of the mountains and hills surrounding them. We were dropped at the bus terminal and immediately walked into town to find a hostel. The first few we found were full, but the third had room at a very much lower rate than the rest. We were ushered to the dorm and found we were sharing with two 20-something girls who could not speak English. We left our luggage and went to find out what the little town of Calafate was about.
First to Tourist Information and then on to a service provider to book our trip to the glacier at Perito Merino. That done, we then decided to walk one side of town before finding a place for supper, and we would do the other side of town the following day since it was forecast to rain. Had a lot of fun spending money on our last lot of memorabilia and had theeeeeeeee most delicious cup of hot chocolate called the honeymooner. We suppered in a little pizza/pub place and then made our way back to the hostel to get some much needed rest. Yeah right!!!!!!!! As we opened the door the noise emanating from the common room nearly blasted us right out again. We made our way to our room ASAP in the hopes of finding a little more peace and quiet there. High hopes indeed!!!! Our room was right above that common room.......we took comfort in that there was a very stern notice warning residents of eviction if they did not respect the code of silence after 00h30. Only 2 hours and we would be able to sleep in silence. Well, the noise only stopped at 3h30!!!! At 5h30 our 20-somethings came barging into the room in what can only be called a drunken stupor. They fell into bed, well one did.....the other left the room to fetch a chair from the common room and crashed her way back into the room, thumped the chair down and hoisted herself on to the top bunk. It wasn't long before they were peacefully sleeping, but neither we, nor our other French 20-something roommate were able to sleep again after that. It was quite something to experience the gaseous odours that were being released. Then tumbling out of bed and down the wooden floored passage and stairs to the toilets to go and heave whatever contents were in the stomach out again, then belching vomit into the pillow after returning, then falling into a deep comatose state and snoring like I have never heard before.....and here I was wanting to apologise before going to sleep for any disruption I might cause to their beauty sleep, should I have had one of my better snoring episodes!!!!!!!! The young French gentleman, using expletives that are better not repeated in writing, tried to wake them when their alarm went off unrelentingly. I was eventually in stitches as I watched his rather ungentlemanly-like tactics in his attempt to wake them. Needless to say, he was nowhere to be seen the following night, having removed himself to another hostel. Only suckers like the Mercers would see another night out in their company!!!
After our morning routine we took ourselves to a rather quaint little health food bar for breakfast and purchased goodies for lunch later in the day. We then started our walk-about, hoping that the rain would hold off for as long as possible. We found ourselves at a lake reserve/bird sanctuary and were treated to some amazing bird life and activity. I was thoroughly amused by the variety of voice tones as the swans bleated out their possession of territory. As we walked we encountered a rather large population of Harriers (I think that is what they were called, nevertheless they were birds of prey). They provided us with quite a display of hunting tactics as something started moving about in the longer marsh grasses. I missed Mike Johnstone in the moment when Graeme asked me whether those birds were finches! Wish he had been there to hear what his response to that question would have been....... We were about halfway around the lake when the heavens opened. About 20 bodies rushed as one for the bird watchers hideout and we all remained there until the weather cleared. We finished our walk and returned to town to complete our investigation of the other side of the street. We went first to the bank to draw money for the next day's trip to the glacier, only to find that the only bank with ATM machines that would accept foreign cards, was out of cash!!!!!! The highlight of our trip was apparently about to not happen!!!!! However, after much toil and trouble, the little pizza/pub place was willing to give us cash with the expected surcharge. So, we breathed our relief out over another cup of hot chocolate.
Our second night in the hostel was not quite as bad as the first, but 3h30 was silence time again. At least the aftermath of drunken stupidity was absent and we managed to get a little more sleep than the night before. We packed our bags and took them to storage before boarding the bus to the glacier. I missed much of the trip there. I just could not stay awake through the hypnotic rumble of the bus's engine and the incessant drone of the tour guide's running commentary. Eventually we arrived after Graeme woke me to see the scenery which was rapidly changing into something quite exceptional. The first sighting of the glacier was awesome, but came nowhere close to the breath taking beauty and wonder of it when you get up close and personal with the wall of blue, blue ice. We stopped first to take the boat trip out to the south side of the glacier. Man........how does one begin to describe what cannot be described???!!! The sheer height of the wall and the translucent colours of blues, turquoises and whites are quite overwhelming. Then the drama of great big chunks of ice crashing down into the blue, blue lake below...... Ah man, there is nothing that we can do, vocabulary or description-wise to do justice to the magnificence of what we were seeing. We didn't even realise how cold we were getting until the boat turned around for its return to shore. From there we were taken to the ramps and balconies to walk along the north side of the glacier. We most certainly did not think that anything could be more beautiful than what we had just seen, but believe it or not, the majestic wonder of this side left us bereft of speech. We simply walked, jaws dropped, eyes attempting to take in and memorise as much as possible, and cameras snapping away without a break. It was here especially that I was most sorry that I did not have a decent camera.... the art of our Creator was truly something outstanding to behold. We found a spot to sit and eat our crackers and cheese for lunch and shared the crackers with some really delightful little birdies who obviously have no qualms about the tourist invasion of their territory. I could have sat there for days just simply watching and listening to that glacier. It is impossible to describe the thunderous roars as the ice cracks and moves deep inside its belly, to describe the drama of the massive columns of colour and shape, to describe the wonder of the ice shards that crash like bombs into the waters below and cause waves like those of the ocean to roll and ripple to the shore.
I was very sad to leave that place of awe and wonder. Slept again on our return trip. Arrived back at the hostel in good time to do a final repack of our bags and then to wait for the taxi to fetch us for our flight to Buenos Aires. This went off without a hitch and we were finally deposited at our host's apartment at about 10h30 that night. What a delightful and warmly welcoming couple. We spent a lovely evening with them before hitting the sack for one final time on the South American continent.
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