El Calafate and Argentina's Perito Moreno Glacier

April 26-27th

Arriving at 1 AM, I stumbled around to a couple hostels finally finding a bed.

Exhausted, I missed my 8 AM bus and had no choice but to hire a private taxi ($50 USD) to whisk me 90 km into the mountains up to Perito Moreno Glaciar Park.

WOW! this is something you just have to see, listen, and experience yourself. The shear size of this advancing glacier doesn't come into perspective until you are at its base. Moving up to 2 meters per day, large chunks of this glaciar fall of the face into Lago Argentina with an inexplicable crashing sound. Certainly 1 of the 7 wonders of South America. I was lucky enough to experience a wall break off the side of one part of the glacier with an immense crashing sound like a building fell down!

Returning to the hostel I was denied a bed in last night, America Del Sur lived up to its top-ten in SA status with heated tile-floors throughout, a nifty loft area, and a great set of chefs who serve a daily special of all you can eat Argentinian steak, Sausages, ensalatas, patatas, wine, cerveza, and agua mineral ($16 USD). Talking to some traveller's over dinner and realizing Patagonian bus services are sparse in the off-season, I decided to re-route my plans so I can fit in Torres Del Paine and Tierra Del Fuego before friday (I fly to Buenos Aires from Ushuaia ("End of the world")).

With such little time to do everything and late-season route closures, here is a laundry list of places I would like to experience at some point: The Ruta de 40 (Bariloche to El Calafate (El Bolson (artist\hippy\craft fair pueblo 200km south of Bariloche), Cavas de los Manos (163 Km south of Perito Moreno city), El chalten pueblito (Mount Fitzroy base camp day trip), Pucon volcanoes (north of Bariloche), Petrified Forests (East of Perito Moreno city), Easter Islands, Falkland Islands, Antartica.

The problem with all of these activities is that you have to dedicate several days to each because bus transport is so sparse. Ideally, I would rent a car for $60 USD per day but as a solo trooper it doesn't make sense. Renting a camper-van and touring Patagonia for a month would be ideal (and very refreshing)!

I currently sit on a 6 hour bus to Puerto Natales, the gatewy to Torres De Paine National Park. The plan is to hike up to the Paines, camp for the night, and wake up at 6AM to catch the colours of the sunrise at the twin peaks.