El Calafate

Monday 29th Nov - Wednesday 1st Dec

There were 5 of us in total travelling from Puerto Natales, Chile to El Calafate, Argentina ... myself, Andrew, Patrick and Pierre Luc (2 French Canadians) and Victoria from Switzerland. We had all stayed in Kaweskar hostel in Puerto Natales. Patrick and Pierre Luc had already made different hostel arrangements for El Calafate, whereas myself, Andrew and Victoria headed off to a hostel called 'I Keu Ken' which is about a 5 minute walk outside the town centre. Very nice hostel ... we all stayed here for next 3 nights.

http://www.patagoniaikeuken.com.ar/

It was late in the evening when we arrived so we didnt get up to much on the first night, but next day (Tuesday 30th Nov) we headed off on a local bus (Arg $100 return) to Los Glaciares National Park (Entrance Fee Arg $75) where we saw the Perito Moreno Glacier.

http://www.losglaciares.com/en/parque/index.html

Amazing sight. The 3 of us took a boat out to the glacier which took us closer to it to take some pictures (Arg$50). There was optional trekking tours too do but the price was a bit steep and to be honest the view of the glacier from the balconies even without the boat trip is excellent. Spent about another 2 hours on the balconies after the boat trip just looking at the glacier and seeing large pieces of ice break away from it. 

There was a BBQ back in the hostel that evening so there was a good crowd there.We met up with loads of people (Scottish and German mainly) and spent the evening drinking beer in the hostel. We also got chatting to Delyth from Wales and Jenni from Finland who were also heading northwards to El Chalten after El Calafate.

Heres a picture of myself, Andrew and Victoria having a few beers in the hostel:

Very lazy day on Wednesday ... I needed a day off after such a hectic few days trekking. Sightseeing is quite tiresome! Spent the afternoon , walking around El Calafate. Nice town but theres not much to do here. Most people seem to just stop off here to do the Glacier trip and then move on. We booked our bus tickets for tomorrow afternoon to head northwards to El Chalten (215 kms cost: Arg $75). Relaxing evening in the hostel ... just hanging about. A few of us ordered some pizza and chilled out at the hostel. Stuffed after it!

Next day, we checked out, done some last minute shopping and myself, Delyth, Andrew and Victoria caught a bus to El Chalten. Jenni also booked her bus for the next day so we agreed to meet up in El Chalten. Was good to meet up with a few others who were travelling in the same direction.