On my last day in El Calafate I took the catamaran cruise on Lago Argentino to see some of the largest glaciers in the Glaciers National Park. It was a nice day out, although unpleasantly cloudy. It might have been some micro-climate over the lake, as when we returned to town in the afternoon, the sun was out again. And it has been sunny every day since I arrived in Argentina. I'm no fan of snow and ice, but it was still quite impressive to see the huge glaciers up close. The first one we went to was called Upsala, after the oldest university in Sweden that apparently sponsored its exploration (although it should be Uppsala with two p's). The second one, Spegazzini, was the tallest in the park. The boat stayed around the glaciers long enough for everyone to have their fill of photos. There were even photographers on board for those who fancied one for the family album. I didn't.
This morning I had to catch a bus again at 7 am to El Chaltén. Breakfast service started at 6:30 so I just wanted to grab a quick coffee and be on my way. But the receptionist had other ideas. She was insistant that I had not paid for my stay, although I was 99% sure I had. With the remaining 1% eating away at me and with the clock ticking, I reluctantly handed over my credit card. While she ran it, I quickly grabbed my laptop out of my bag and got on the hotel wi-fi to check my cedit card statement online. While she was pressuring me to sign, I found the smoking gun. They had taken payment almost two weeks ago! I showed her and she went to wake up the boss. Tick-tock, tick-tock. He sauntered in in his dressing gown and I showed him the same thing, accompanied by a piece of my mind in English. Don't know if it was because he was still in dreamland but he was faffing around so much with the credit card machine I had to yank my plastic out of his hand and get moving or I would miss my bus. I shouted back at him to sort it out - and made it to the bus station in time! I will be back in El Calafate again on Friday so I'll stop by and make sure he's done it. What did I say about the latin desmadre?!
I had a nice walk around the little village of El Chaltén this afternoon. It took about 20 minutes. It has very scenic surroundings with high mountain walls and snow-peaked caps in the distance. The most famous peak around here is Fitz Roy. I also had a very nice late lunch of lamb cooked in dark beer and a soft drink for 200 pesos (£10). The meat was plentiful and certainly filled me up to the rim! Good thing too, I am gathering strength for a little hike tomorrow of about 8 km roundtrip. That's plenty for an unfit, middle-aged man with a slipped disk and a dodgy leg. The village markets itself as Argentina's trekking capital. Certainly useful as a base for the outdoors people to stock up before hitting the wilderness, but neither El Chaltén nor El Calafate have anything of interest to offer tourists. It's all in the natural surroundings.
I've seen far fewer people wearing The North Face in El Chaltén than I saw in El Calafate. Perhaps because the former is more for the trekkers and campers, who can't afford it. The cruise yesterday was a veritable publicity shoot for The North Face! I was a bit too cocky, thinking I'd be fine in shorts and a sweater. It was supposed to have been only partly cloudy, and I was counting on the sun to warm me up. But in all honesty, long trousers and a jacket would have been more comfortable. Not that I was shivering, of course, but up on deck when the catamaran sped up, it was a little chilly.
I now have the slowest wi-fi so far on this trip, so I'm afraid you'll have to wait a bit longer for photos. Don't know if it will improve when I reach a bigger city in Patagonia (Puerto Natales on Saturday), or if I have to wait until i reach Santiago in a few weeks. I think I might put the photos in an online photo album rather than directly in the blog as I have already taken hundreds and it would be a lot of scrolling. Watch this space.
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