Heading North

Since there wasn´t much more continent to keep heading south on we decided to start making our way back up through Argentina. The first stop (on the long, long road to Buenos Aires) was El Calafate, which sits on southern shore of Lago Argentina, the country´s biggest lake. At the other end of the turqoise waters is the Perito Moreno Glaciar--one of the last advancing glaciers in the world. There´s something about an absolutely massive block of snow and ice that is completely mesmorizing. It might sound like watching paint dry, but believe me, watching a glacier is way better. Gigantic blocks of ice regularly crack off the giant massif and into the water with the roar of an avalanche. Once again, everything in Patagonia is so overwhelmingly huge that its hard to describe seeing something like this. Save the Glaciers! And the Whales! In case you were curious, yes, we stared at it for hours. But, we really had no choice because the bus drops people off at about 10am and doesn´t come back until 3pm. That´s lots of glaciar staring time--and there´s not much else to do there.

El Calafate itself was nothing to write home about--even though I guess that´s what I´m doing. There is one main drag, bustling with travelers coming from every-which direction. We did spend Halloween there, and there were all kinds of little monsters running around--although, here they go to the chocolaterias, restaurants and gift shops and not through the neighborhoods.

Strange not to have to do last minute shopping for costumes for ourselves...we are usuually scrambling for costumes on Halloween day, but not this year. I myself wanted to make sure I didn´t loose the spirit entirely, so I decided to dress up in lots of facial hair. See below:

(NOTE: Anyone that knows me well also knows that I can't really grow facial hair--in fact this is the closest thing I´ve ever had to a mustache. Sorry, I had to throw in the photo just because it´s awesome.)

Anyway, up the famous Austral Highway (Route 40--which is partly paved and partly dirt) we made a quick visit to a small town in the middle of nowhere, called El Chalten. This place was really cool and rediculously overpriced. The main attraction is the giant granite tower Fitz Roy. Since we were still a little ahead of the summer climbing weather the crowds weren´t too bad, but this little place gets packed in the summer--and with good reason. We literally hiked right out the back door of our hostel and into the backcountry. Not bad living.

The roads in town are all dirt, and the day we pulled in the wind was ripping down the main street making it hard to walk and/or see. Big changes are on the way for this little palce though as they are in the middle of paving all the streets in town--as well as the road in from Calafate. I´m sure this remote little mountain village with about 1500 residents will see big changes once there´s a smooth ride in--because the ride in was not smooth.

One of our last views of the Patagonia Steppe and the southern Andes.