After some 22 hours of buses and connections we arrived from Puerto Madryn into El Calafate. First impression was the lack of sealed roads which made for a bumpy ride! But it´s a lovely location for a town, right on the edge of glacial blue Lago Argentina and our hostel was nestled up in the hills just right to enjoy the beautiful views. However being in Patagonia it was a lot colder than we´ve become used to so all the thermals and trousers were out. Plus on the second day we were hit by a big wind storm which with all the construction going on and the unsealed roads, meant that the second you stepped outside you got whipped by wind and dirt - a day to relax!

A visit to the National Park Los Glaciares to see the Perito Moreno glacier was the main reason for stopping here. This glacier is pretty special because it extends out of the mountains and the face of the glacier finishes in a lake. Not only this but the glacier is still moving by up to 2 metres per day so the ice breaks off the front all the time with a thounderous crack. The noise the glacier makes is just incredible too.

We boarded a boat first up to see the glacier from the water - it rises up about a good 40 metres from the water level so it was a cool vantage point. We saw some large icebergs floating around in front but sadly for us nothing large was breaking off for us. Following the boat we headed to a lookout point right on the tip of the land facing the glacier and took in the sights and sounds there. With the boat you only get to see one side but from here you get a view of both sides as the glacier has extended so much that it has hit the land again dividing the lake in two. There must have been a good 200 people there all with their cameras at the ready just waiting to try capture a large iceberg breaking off the front - we gave up after about 10 minutes! The colour of the ice was an amazing variety of blues and it was all very clean ice with very little rock in it which made it look all the more spectacular.

The rest of the time in El Calafate we just chilled out at the hostel which was a really cool place called ´I Keu Ken´ which translates to mean Our Ancestors in the language of the local tribes who once lived her. The staff were all a group of young friends who made you feel right at home and even entertained us when they jumped around and screamed when watching the local football derby between River Plate and La Boca (They were more entertaining than the match itself) . All in all a very nice place to relax.