April 2 - 4
This morning we got up at 6am to take a flight to El Calafate, which if you look at our route map is right in the south of Argentina. Now after a week long party in BA we were both broken and very, very tired. After a flight of 3 hours we landed in a place that was in total contrast to BA. It felt like the highlands of Scotland, rolling hills and beautiful blue lakes. The temperature took a dramatic drop and was about 10 degrees brrr. We stayed in a beautiful hostel called American Del Sur which wouldn't have felt out of place in a ski resort. It was like a chalet with wooden beams and a huge open fire - we both agreed that it was exactly the type of place to dry out and get back to normal after a week of pure madness. El Calafate has long been on my list of places to visit, not only because it has amazing lanscapes but because it is home to the biggest glacier in the world, Perito Moreno. We opted for a boat tour which takes you right beside the glacier and then the tour throught the national park. Neither of us were up to glacier hiking, no way jose! The boat rie was made entertaining by a random man asking to have a picture taken with Kate, god knows what that was about. Once in the park you can view the glaciers from various platforms and as the day goes on and the light changes the glacier looks different. The size of this thing is just epic (it is bigger than the city of Buenos Aires) and even though it doesn't do much you can't help but just be amazed by it. It's weird as well as it creaks and groans and we were lucky enough to see pieces of ice fall off and as they fall they rumble and then crash into the water. I absolutely loved being there and it was well worth travelling all the way south to see it.
