Perito Moreno Glacier and a long, long bus trip

´A little bit of soul is worth more than gold´Everybody Needs Somebody by Primal Scream

Hola from Argentina, the twelfth country we have visited on our round the world trip. We´ve had a few lazy days since I last wrote, but we´ve also visited the beautiful Perito Moreno Glacier so here is a quick update on what we have been up to.

Wednesday 16th
We had a very lazy day hanging around Puerto Natales. We probably needed it after our exertions trekking in Torres Del Paine, but although Puerto Natales is a nice wee town we had probably exhausted ourselves of it the previous day. But we hung out and chilled out, which you need to do now and again.

Thursday 17th
A day of travel. Our bus didn´t leave Puerto Natales until 2pm so we had a long lie and some lunch before jumping on the bus to cross the border. Two English girls were on our bus and caused us no end of amusement. They must have been mid-late 30´s and God only knows how they have managed to travel around the world. Just after an hour we reached the Chilean Border Crossing and we all got off the bus with our passports ready, along with an official slip that you receive when you arrive in Chile. The two girls had lost their slip. Not a big deal really, but it was to them.

´Oh s@@t, what are we going to do, they´re not going to let us into Argentina, we're stuck here´ said one of them.
'Oh my God, I don't have that bit of paper everyone else has, what are they going to do? Will they keep us here?'
'I have my mobile, I can phone my friend who speaks Spanish or I can phone the British Embassy.

This went on and on, despite the fact that I said they would get another slip. They would just have to wait a bit. But panic stations continued with Lynn and I unable to look each other in the eyes otherwise we would have burst out laughing. Needless to say that they had to wait ten minutes and then they got another slip and the problem was over. I can only imagine that travelling must be one constant source of stress and worry for the two of them.

Anyway after that, and I suppose it was funnier when you were there, we sped through dusty roads towards El Calafate. We eventually arrived at 8pm, only no-one told us there was an hours difference so it was actually 9pm. We checked into the Buenos Aires Hostel, dumped our bags and headed into town.

El Calafate is a nice wee town in the middle of nowhere, reliant on tourists visiting the Perito Moreno Glacier and sheep farming for existence. Everyone that we met in Chile that had been to Argentina had been raving about the steaks so we immediately headed for a steakhouse and ordered 2 medium sirloins and 2 Quilmes beers. One girl we met in Puerto Arenas had actually been a vegitarian for 15 years and then switched back to meat after being tempted in Argentina! The steak was lovely and Quilmes has shot into the top 3 beers from our travels list along with Chang and Monteiths Zesty. During the meal we discovered it was 11.30pm rather than 10.30pm and we headed back to the hostel for a good nights sleep.

Friday18th January
We slept well and woke around 10am, eventually leaving the hostel at 11am and heading to the bus station to book on the 3pm bus to the national park containing the Perito Moreno Glacier. The bus was $10 ARG each, around 1 pound 50. Before the bus we had a nice walk around the shops and had a sandwich. The bus took under an hour to get to the park and we then had to pay a park entrance fee of $40 ARG. We got dropped off at the boating section as we wanted to take a boat right up to the face of the glacier. The boat was $35ARG each, so the cost mounted up but we still had a day looking at one of natures wonders for under 30 quid each.

The boat left at 4.30pm and we headed around the bend towards the glacier, one of the only advancing glaciers in the world. We passed by chunks of ice that had broken off and admired the seemingly endless sea of ice that stretched before our eyes. We took loads of photos as the boat went back and forth along the glacier, about 50 metres or so away from the face.

Just as we turned to leave a huge chunk of ice came off and crashed into the lake. Lynn and I looked at each other in amazement and just as we were catching our breath a smaller section broke off into the water. We headed back and caught one more section of ice falling off. We didn´t have any luck catching it on film though.

After we landed we caught a shuttle bus round to the walkways that take you to excellent viewing positions of the glacier. We didn´t have to wait long until we heard some cracks and echoes and some ice fell into the lake. This happened pretty regularly throughout the next 90 minutes. Who would have thought that ice watching was so much fun? I can´t slag off train spotters or bird watchers anymore!

Check the following link for more info and better pictures than any of ours. The pictures will tell you more about the beauty of the glacier than I ever could. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perito_Moreno_Glacier

The bus back left at 8pm promptly and we were back in town for just after 9. We headed to a funky wee bar we had walked past the night before and had some dinner and a couple of beers.

Saturday 19th January
Occassionally you have to do things that you don´t want to do. These things are usually not much fun, although you can sometimes be surprised. Today we spent a couple of hours assessing ways of getting from El Calafate to Bariloche. It basically boiled down to a 2 hour flight for 150 quid each or a 34 hour bus ride for 40 quid each. I hate to say it but we are getting the bus, our days of flashpacking are over!

So we leave at 4am tomorrow morning and will arrive in Bariloche at 4.30pm on January 21st! Are we mad? Yes I think we might be. Try as I might I couldn´t justify the cost of the flights to Lynn and believe me, I tried. Still, looking on the positive side the money we are saving will help us enjoy Rio all the more when we arrive there.

We are going to be fairly substantially over our initial budget by the time we return, but hey, we may never do this again. Rio, Machu Picchu and hopefully (if the budget allows) the Galapagos Islands are going to eat a huge hole in the remaining funds we have, however, apart from that Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru and our return to Argentina in May should be pretty cheap. I hope so!

So we´re chilling out for the rest of the afternoon, having an early meal and then catching some shut eye before going for the bus. I´d better go and charge my ipod!

Speak to you soon.

Lots of love
Murray and Lynn
xxx