Back to Argentina or Parque Nacional Los Glacieres, Part I

Hola,

And so, we made it back to Argentina. It was nice, because Puerto Natales is a very grey and windswept city, and finally we saw some sunshine, and people smiling, and stuff is cheap.

The park divides into two major parts: the southern, in which the famous attraction is the glaciar Perito Moreno (or the ¨cracking¨ glaciar), and some more expensive-to-see glaciars and the northern part, with the Fitz Roy mountain. From El Calafate you leave to see Moreno, and from the touristic town of El Chalten you leave for the treks around the mountain.

We didn´t want to spent too much time in El Calafate, so we decided not to tie ourselves with the bus to the glaciar, but to rent a car. We found a british couple that wanted to join us, and that way it turned to be almost the same price as the bus. The car we rented was a Folkswagen Gol. That´s right, Gol, it´s not a typo. That´s what they have here. It´s like Golf, but a little shorter...

Driving to the glaciar (about an hour from the city) reminded me of the racing computer games from the 90s - the road twists and turnes, and in the background you have a static image of mountains.

Finally, after a very beautiful drive, we arrived at the glaciar. It´s really an attraction for old people. You don´t have to do anything, just sit and wait for the stupid glaciar to crack. Luckily we brought food, so we made a little lunch while waiting for a big piece to fall off. It really reminded me of wild west: a bunch of people standing, looking at the glaciar. Who will be the quickest to draw the camera? Aweful. At some point, it got so boring, so we all started taking macro shots of an unlucky caterpillar with the glaciar in the background.

Anyway, when we got sick of it, we returned to the car and drove back just in time to catch the bus to El Chalten.

Who will they meet in El Chalten? Will the mighty Cerro Electrico be conquered by the brave voyagers? Will they return safe from the trek?

All this and more, next time.

Pictures, as usual, by mail.

Vova, Esquel, Argentina