For some reason we thought 5 days on an unpaved road would be a good idea, and signed up for travelling from Bariloche to el Calafate on the ´famous´Ruta 40. It was fun but sore given the basic nature of the bus and impossible to read, write or play cards or travel scrabble. With acres and acres of barren scrub land as a view (and the odd guanaco) the only thing to do was sleep and moan about the travel company we were with. Note to all, do not book with Chalten Travel ever.
There was some real odd kids on the tour too; one´s of note were a guy with a voice box which had no volume control, who drank beers for breakfast, and a psycho Israali guy who just stared at you and didnt say a word when you spoke to him.
1st night in the town Perito Moreno-truly a one horse town, where we stayed at the Hotel Belgrano, the most disgusting hotel in the world. Good feed tho at a place round the corner, where the steaks are as big as dinner plates.
On the way down we went to Cuevos de Los Manos. 7000yr old paintings on cliffs of Rio de los manos, made by indigenous Mapuche people.
After another day of recovery (we are just not the outdoorsy types you see here all the time) we got back on the crappy bus to El Calafate and arrived on Xmas eve. Xmas lunch was a ham and cheese sarnie, no joke, but the pay off was trekking the Perito Moreno Glaciar. Its advancing glaciar the size of london, which heads down a valley and into a lake below. It was properly magical especially to watch huge iceberg sized chunks crashed off into the Lago Argentina below.
Note Ed´s Shackleton-esque beard that he´s been cultivating especially for this part of the trip.
We got to El Chalten, a tiny village, 2 days later and stayed to do the Fitz Roy mountain hike. The best thing we have done so far! Climbed to 1500 metres all by ourselves!
This last pic was just moments before I fell over and gave myself the biggest bruise of my life all over my left thigh. Should have brought walking boots.....
After another day of recovery (we are just not the outdoorsy types you see here all the time) we got back on the crappy bus to El Calafate and arrived on Xmas eve. Xmas lunch was a ham and cheese sarnie, no joke, but the pay off was trekking the Perito Moreno Glaciar. Its advancing glaciar the size of london, which heads down a valley and into a lake below. It was properly magical especially to watch huge iceberg sized chunks crashed off into the Lago Argentina below.
Note Ed´s Shackleton-esque beard that he´s been cultivating especially for this part of the trip.
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