El Calafate is 30-something hours from Ushuaia by bus but only an hour and a half on Aerolineas Argentinas for just a few pesos more. But we suspect "aerolineas" is Spanish for "chaos." There is no adult supervision at the gates, no visible staff, only bilingual mayhem.
El Calafate is the entry point to what many come to Patagonia for, Parque Nacional las Glaciar but we are using it to regain our equilibrium and get used to living on dry land again. After the cramped quarters on the Vavilov, our room at Hotel El Quijote seems auditorium sized, and in truth, it is.
We have been spending our time getting haircuts, doing laundry and birding in the nearby Nimez Lagoon. The weather changes hourly alternating among strong winds, bright sunshine, drizzle and heavy rain. You might think that with all the snow and ice of Antarctica we would have had enough, but today we took a bus trip out to the park and the Perito Moreno glacier, which feeds Lake Argentina. Hidden to us, huge chunks of ice were calving to the sound of thunder claps, when suddenly a house-sized piece broke off right in front of us with a loud explosion and a splash like a breaching humpback whale. Even with all the ice in Antarctica we didn't see anything like this.
Male Magellanic woodpecker
Birding has been good, too. There are Chilean flamingos, black-faced ibis, several LBJs and the prize, a pair of Magellanic woodpeckers.
