El Calafate

February 22, 2024 to February 25, 2024

As they say all good things come to an end. We we very fortunate with weather and ferry schedules that we arrived here earlier than expected. We were also lucky the Calafate Hoste had room , it fills up quickly to back packers from all over. Since it has a big airport you can fly south or up to Buenos Aires. People fly here to then bus to see Mt Fitz Roy where we tool the bus down.

Your decision will come down to where you want to spend more time than just cycling and where you want to end up. I did miss cycling after a few days off.

We packed up our bikes in boxes here and got them ready to fly north to Buenos Aires. You could bus south back to Chile, then fly within Chile, cheaper than Argentina to Chile. There are so many options based on where you want to end up. This is where when you plan your trip based on budget and time. With coming down this far, why rush it away so quickly. So many cycle tourists went on to do some hiking and sightseeing.

Bike being packed up. Not a rookie anymore!

Random dog shot, will miss these back in Canada.

It‘s funny you go from remote farms in Chile to a true tourist town in Al Calafate. I‘ll admit I miss the dogs barking at 2am and the roosters at 5am. You get so used to the beautiful ride, the city although not that small seems too much of a hustle and bustle. Tourist shops on the main drag selling everything that has a hint of Patagonia.

We met up with Andrew, our friends from Spain so again such a small world. We all bid farewell since leaving at different times, the last dinner or lunch to share stories. We are actually off to see Pedro from Columbia in Santiago on Tuesday.

David, Andrew and I went to the national park to see the glacier. So many tourists from all over come to see it. The below pictures still don’t do it justice. One of the few glaciers you can drive up to and also take a boat to get pretty close.

The boat we were on to get close to the glacier.

Hard to capture the beauty and size of the glacier. Almost 2 km wide and 20 km deep. Over 60 meters high in some spots.

It’s not growing as fast as it‘s shrinking, global warming?

Not a selfie, I usually take pictures for tourists when one is the odd man out. I was returned the favour.

I heard the roar and sounds, David was fortunate to capture this on video.

David and I went to see a museum on glaciers, it was quite informative. Of course like the Quebec Ice Hotel, they have a bar you can go to.

With my sandals I didn’t stay very long !

I decided to also take a motorcycle trip for 4 hours. I was the only one in his group so got a private tour. I learned about sheep farming and the history of the area. I also was so ver fortunate to experience the effect of Argentinian Ripio doing 65 km on the washboard, insert a hint of sarcasm here. The stop at end in such a quite area with snow capped mountains was so worth it.

Heading out. The ripio is not as bad as cycling, still sucked !

Sunsets are pretty. Remember to look back when you ride !

My guide also got a flat tire 3 hours into the trip so we had to ditch his bike and ride double up on mine the way back ! Karma eh, 3 flats on mine and now this.

The bright side I had my first Argentinian matte. I can see why it’s so popular, a very social experience, medicinal and tasty.

So nice to be back in a peaceful country setting

Old wagons they used to haul wool to be shipped overseas.

A real Gaucho. Tradition they get dressed when going even to town

I learned so much about sheep farming. Like 6 minutes to shear a sheep with scissors.

With the electric shears down to 2 minutes. This was a small ranch only 5000 sheep.

So putting the trash and trinkets aside, El Calafate was a nice place to visit. For the non cycle tourists a nice hub to go north and further south for sightseeing.

Early morning flight to Buenos Aires then Santiago.

We didn’t realize till we got to Santiago how bad the boxes were banged up !

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