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We arrived in El Calafate on Wednesday and it was really beautiful. Snow capped mountains with chrystal blue lakes and pine trees...felt like the Christmas Caroles were going to start playing in the background! Our hostel was great and highly recommended (America Del Sur) = huge open fire and just a really cool vibe and homey feel = met lots of good people there too. We spent Thursday walking around the town and getting some info on day trips and then we went to the Puerto Merino Glacier on Friday...unfortunately it was pouring with rain so we got very wet but we still saw the glacier. We were taken on an hours walk which got us to good view points of the glacier. We were lucky enough to see some chunks falling off which is an amazing site...and also to hear the glacier cracking. At about lunch time we got back to our bus to eat some lunch and were literally soaked...somehow right down to my underwear...nice I know = so we were feeling cold and in need of a shower and change of clothes. We had the option of going on a boat trip to see the glacier a bit closer but I gave that a miss as I didn´t think I could get any wetter! Matt did go and took some good pictures though so all was not lost! It was really amazing to see though and glad we did the trip.
On Saturday morning we caught the bus to a place called El Chalten which is about 4 hours away and one of the best places for trekking. We arrived there and were literally surrounded by mountains with snow all over them...the town is quite dead now as it is getting to the winter season but there were still people around.
On Sunday morning we got up early and did a walk to another glacier which was so beautiful. On the way we saw tons of woodpeckers and Matt was able to get up really close to take photos. The paths were covered in snow for some of the way but we made it to the glacier in about 3 hours. You can really have all 4 seasons in one day and when we started out it was wet and windy but the rain soon stopped and the sun came out a few times. We took a different route back which was a bit longer and knee deep in snow at times. We had met an Argentinian guy on the way back and he was leading the way...luckily we bumped into an English couple that we knew from El Calafate (Dave and Amanda) along the way who were heading back the not-so-snow-covered way and I decided to go with them. Matt carried on with the Argentinian guy but they were an hour later back than us so I was glad that I decided to turn back!
After some food and a hot shower we were both asleep by about 8pm!
We did a shorter walk on Sunday as we were heading back to El Calafate to catch our bus to Trevelin that night. The walk was lovely though and we climbed to the top of one of the small mountains and got a view of the whole town and the famous Fitz Roy mountain. We caught our bus at 6pm and had arranged to meet Dave and Amanda back in El Calafate as we were all getting the bus at 4am the following morning to the Lake District. We met up at the hostel we had stayed in previously...they were really nice and let us dump our bags and shower and sleep on the couches till we went to the bus station at 3am.
The 4 of us and Frank, a French guy went to a restaurant for dinner at around 10.30pm and had an amazing steak and some good red wine...it was our most expensive dinner so far = 60 pesos each, so only about 10 pounds each but we felt we deserved it with our massive bus journey ahead of us! Argentinian beef is certainly some of the best we have tasted...think Matt is going to have withdrawals when we leave!!!
Anyway...we all got on the bus again at 4am and arrived in Rio Gallegos at 8am. Our bus to Calate Olivia left at 9am and arrived at 6.15pm. Our final bus left at 8.45pm and we arrived in Trevelin at this morning. So we are pretty exhausted but looking forward to sleeping in a bed tonight!
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