Stop, collaborate and listen

Chillin' out in El Calafate

This blog title may have those of you with a sophisticated musical palate a bit stumped – but the ladies of Hardenhuish School and Exeter University will certainly get the reference.

We left you last time in Bariloche - the self-styled capital of the southern Lake District, nestled in the foothills of the Andes overlooking the huge lake Nahuel Huapi. It has been described as a South American take on Switzerland – because South America needs a Switzerland - and accordingly the guide book promised stores full of chocolate St. Bernard dogs. While there were plenty of the real things on the streets ready to pose for photos with gullible tourists, no confectionary versions were anywhere to be found (we are starting to lose patience with the Rough Guide, we may have thought twice about Bariloche if we knew the chocolate dogs would be so thin on the ground).

We hiked, biked, rafted and hired a car to see as much of the area and lakes as possible. The highlight was certainly rafting on the River Manso. The gorge offered stunning scenery dotted with waterfalls and a close encounter with a ringed kingfisher (we looked it up, in truth we can’t tell one kingfisher from another. J had to be persuaded that it was in fact a bird).  The trip ended at the ‘international border’ with Chile in the Andes (see photos for what constitutes an international border in these parts, basically two blokes sharing a cigarette and a horse), and we snuck over for a preview of Chile.

Following a personal recommendation, J was keen to try the steaks (‘the biggest and juiciest in town’) at Alberto’s in Bariloche. While J tucked in to his ‘bife de chorizo’, C tucked into a delicious and nutritious carrot salad and plate of fries, all eaten with a giant steak knife…  

From Bariloche we flew south into Patagonia proper and the town of El Calafate.  Predictably, it is getting colder the further south we go and this area is particularly famous for glaciers, ice-bergs and its general remoteness. This move south has necessitated some re-shuffling of the rucksacks (bikinis to the bottom, fleeces to the top) and a dawning realisation we are woefully underprepared for the big chill.

We took a boat trip for a closer look at the glaciers and ice-bergs.  Despite shivering on deck in our safari suits and pac-a-macs, the glaciers proved to be absolutely stunning. It is difficult to describe the experience of coming face to face with a 90 metre high wall of ice, with strange peaks and crevasses, particularly when huge chunks ‘calve’ off and thunder into the lake without warning.  Peaceful and powerful all at the same time. Once again, our photos do not do it justice, having reduced nature's mightiest creations to indistinct blobs. We blame the camera.

To complete the full ice experience, we donned crampons and took a trek on the Perito Moreno Glacier. Walking on the glacier gave a completely different perspective and was rounded off in style with a glass of Jim Beam complete with 400 year old ice-cubes.

This blog rounds off our tales of Argentina as we head into Chile tomorrow – first stop Torres del Paine national park.  We have updated the photos with edited highlights. We have loved it here, the people are so friendly and the scenery is varied but always beautiful. Estamos un poco triste de dejar. 

Highlights: managing not to bounce out of the raft despite level IV rapids, and still having the energy left to appreciate the completely unspoilt beauty and tranquillity of the area.

Lowlights: the complete lack of anything resembling a proper coat, leaving us at the mercy of the Patagonian elements. Sorry to hark on, but the lack of chocolate dogs was also a low point.

Malbec count: now being measured in vats rather than bottles, so it’s very hard to make an estimate – on to the Chilean vino next.