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We´ve now spent three days in El Calafate. The trip to get here took two and a half days along the legendary Ruta 40. We left Bariloche early in the morning to head to our first stop Perito Moreno (the town, not the glacier). The road was largely unpaved and it took us a lot of time to travel relatively little distance. Perito Moreno was a small mining town in the middle of nowhere. We labelled it "The Most Depressing Town Ever". There was absolutely nothing there expect a small pizza restaurant that seem to accomodate any traveller unfortunate enough to find themselves in town.
The following day we headed towards El Chalten, a small town popular with trekkers. As we approached El Chalten we were lucky enough to be offered the front seats on the bus (the perks of being two girl travellers) and see the sun setting behind the vast mountains. That night we stayed in the Rancho Grande, where virtually every other traveller in town was staying.
The next day was Mish's birthday and to celebrate we went on two long hikes to see Mount Fitzroy and Lake Capri. The views of both were spectacular. Prior to walking we were worried about our lack of fitness (we stopped jogging ages ago) but we were never overtaken and even lapped a number of people. Hopefully this is all good preparation for Machu Piccu. We caught the bus to El Calafate that evening and arrived pretty late to find that our reservation for our hostel didn't exist and there were no spare beds. El Calafate is the sort of town where you have to book accomodation before as it is incredibly touristy. Luckily we managed to find a bed. However, it was in a tiny dormitory with ten boys. Ten smelly, snoring boys. We didn't sleep too well that night. Fortunately our luck was in the next day as the hostel we originally intended to stay in had space for us.
There wasn't too much to do in El Calafate except see the glacier in Perito Moreno. The geographer inside Liv was very excited. Seeing the glacier was absolutely amazing. It was moving at two meters a day and once every so often large chunks broke off, catching everyone's attention. The only downside was that we were there for eight hours which was much more time than was needed. We were even shooed out of the cafe for spending too much time over our drinks.
Since Mish's actual birthday evening didn't turn out so well we went out the day after to a place where you could eat as much steak and Patagonian lamb as you can. Needless to say we took advantage. It was so delicious.
We are now preparing for the long bus journey down to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world. Hopefully it's not too cold there.
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