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We took a LADE flight to El Calafate ( a budget ex argentinian army airline.. it stopped 3 times and took nearly 8 hours!! the flight time with other airlines is about 2 hours but hey we saved some pesos!! You could hear the whole machine buMPING along and the wheels skidding along the tarmac.. not one for nervous flyers!
Our hostel in El Calafate was great run by really friendly relaxed argentinians with lots of other argentinians on holidays staying there, often crawling into our dorm room just as we were setting off for a day trip!
The National park los glaciars is incredible, We did a boat trip in the national park to see the Upsala glacier and 2 other glaciers, it was incredible seeing the diffrent colours and shapes and textures of the floating icebergs in the lake..
The next day we did "Big Ice" an 8 hour trek into the middle of the Perito Moreno glacier, we saw it by boat and from the land and then stapped on crampons and walked across it. It was very weird getting used to walking up and down slopes of ice but after a while we got used to it and the textures and colours were so amazing, like nothing we have every seen before or imagined it could be like. We crossed a rushing stream which dissapeared under the ice at about 60km an hour in a crevice about 50m deep, and had lunch by a bright blue freshwater lagoon. It was such a highlight of all of our trip! we were also lucky enough to see a chunk of it break off and fall into the water with a crashing boom and long lasting ripple effect. Just amazing.
We then headed to the tiny dusty windy town of El Chalten at the base of Fitzroy massive in the National Park. The town has only been in existence since 1980's so was pretty sparse! We did some lovely long day walks there,
Laguna de los tres ( up to the top of Fitzroy)
Lago Torre ( with beautiful views of the glacier torre and the lake. we dumped some icy cold water from the lake over ourselves to refresh ourselves on the way back., Kate stripped down to her undies for a dip only to discover there was an Argentinian family and a couple of german backpacker close behind her!! it was too freezing to dunk into..
One of our faves wasLoma del Pliegue lumbado with amazing views of cerro solo, glacier torre, cerro torre and fitzroy massive. we only passed a couple of people and thankfully didnt run into any pumas that are meant to be in the park! We got a bit lost on our way back down as we had to scrabble our own path but we got home in the end!
We also did another walk in private property to see the glacier marconi and lago electrico, it was a tough walk as it wasnt signposted and involved a 2 river crossings ( kate stacking it both times and soaking her feet!) She was able to to blag a trip back to town on the back of a passing ute though and it was such an uplifting feeling of freedom as we sat on the back with the wind whipping our faces and hair and covering us with grime under the bright blue sunny skies! We spent the money we saved on hot choc ( kate) and icecream ( Peter).. well deserved!
The only downer of the trip was a couple of days where Peter had been so attacked by insects that he was covered in bites that were driving him crazy with angry red reaction all over him, and then us both getting more bites on top of that from the tiny insects in the wooden walls of our hostel.. we ended up visiting the only Dr in town ( athe hospital) and getting injections in our bums to relieve it ( 3 times for peter and twice for kate) and eventually also getting some medicine which totally zonked us out so we were like zombies for a couple of days but on the bright side... thankfully it wasnt bed bugs..
we met a really nice couple from Bilbo and 2 other really nice girls from spain in our hostel and had good spanlisgh chats with them.
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