A pretty early start for the Perito Moreno glacier trip, but was totally worth it. Absolutely breathtaking - it's on of the vey few glaciers in the world that is ACTALLY growing in size. It recdes too and we were in luck because we could actually hear the CRACK just before watching massive chunks of ice falling in the water! Spent about 4 hours walking around the park seeing this enormous glacier from different angles. I even managed to catch a photo of the ice falling in the water! Crazy!
After the trip I head to El Chaltén, home of the Fitzroy formation. Come across some English girls at the bus terminal and we proceed to find ourselves a hostel. After at least half an hour of looking, we're grateful to find somewhere, but I think we should have been alerted to the fact that this wasn't the best hostel in the world by a) the Israeli girls complaining that no-one had cleaned their rooms and b) money was asked for up front before we had even seen the room. My WORD that place was disgusting! We cooked dinner in an absolutely fly-infested kitchen, and the room was worse...still so many flies, but the room stank of gas, the bathroom looked like it had never been cleaned and I'm not convinced the sheets are clean! Definitely a night for the sleeping bag liner.
Need to get the hell out of that hostel, so walk around town until we find one thats clean. Afterwards, we grab breakfast and coffee at a place that has WiFi and Thiv gives me stick for not being in contact...if only he knew how hard I was trying to get to the airport on time!! Ironic really! Take a hike up to the Fitzroy formation for 6 hours. It's stunning, although I think I still prefer Torres del Paine. This is the Argentinian version. A 6 hour walk in total and WOW my legs hate me; I don't think I'll be trekking again for a while! Went to a brewery for beer and pizza. Definitely deserved after the day we had!
The next day I realise that if I'm going to meet Thiv at the airport, I have to go back to go forward, so I'm booked on a bus back to El Calafate (and to make up for the inconvenience they sort me for a few nights accommodation too). I head to the Viedma glacier, which I think is the largest in South America, and pay for an excursion which I take to be ice climbing, but just turned out to be a trip on a boat TO the glacier, which was a little disappointing and a bit of a waste, but I realise that I couldn't have spent the time on a longer trip anyway - especially when it turns out there's a power cut in el Chaltén when I get back and I have no access to the confirmation email about the buses! It comes back on just in time, and luckily everything is fine. Plus points of being female out here; everyone tries to go out of their way to help you...I fluttered my eyelashes a bit too I guess...but I seemed to remember the previous bus stopping before the bus station on the way to el Calafate before so I thought I would try and ask the bus driver. At first the answer was "I can't, I'm not allowed", then at the terminal offered to take me a few blocks closer, until finally he just gave me a lift to the hostel! What a guy! The hostel is LUXURY...I get a 4 bed dorm to myself WITH A TV!!! I couldn't believe my luck. And the bathroom is clean. Bliss.
The next few days is mainly admin and travelling to Bariloche - it's a 28 hour bus journey, made a lot better by movies. This is pretty much the Israeli bus - who knew they travelled so much?! Some very stodgy food too, makes me appreciate even the worst plane food. I do meet some very cool people on the bus who I had also bumped into in El Calafate and El Chaltén and we hit up some martinis and Mexican food. So tasty...! The next day Google decides it's the day to lock me out of my email. What a nightmare - can't they see that I'm travelling round South America and therefore another log in from a place in Argentina is far from odd?! Anyway, ignoring that, I go on the Circuito Chico circuit in Bariloche and visit more lakes and more mountains. The view from the top of Cerro Campanero is supposed to be number 7 in the world according to National Geographic. I'm not so sure. I'm a bit indifferent to lakes and mountains now and am DYING to see a city or the beach.
Lots of other beautiful views, and our final stop is Hotel Llao llao, which means super sweet in some native language after the mushrooms that grow in this region. The only 5 star hotel in Patagonia, it's an impressive sight.
I meet up with the guys from yesterday and we go horse-riding in the area of Cerro Campanero, and whilst at the beginning I wasn't sure if my horse was just going to keel over and die, by the end the horse was GALLOPING. So much fun. We all head out afterwards for the BEST steak I've had in Argentina and some pretty good wine too - mmmmm - and then out to an "Irish Pub", which didn't even sell Guiness...you get the picture...
Now, Bariloche is particularly known for it's chocolate, so it would be incredibly rude not to visit one of the shops/cafes that sells it right? It's coming up to Easter, so the place is FULL of Easter eggs, looks pretty tasty, so grab a little box and then off I go on the 20 hour bus journey to Buenos Aires.
Can't Wait.
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