Patagonia

We went to Patagonia and it was incredible!!!  It was a whirlwind of a trip, but it was perfect.  Let's start with what in the heck Patagonia is:

Basically the bottom third of Argentina is called Patagonia.  Buenos Aires is in the middle of the country and to the far right.  We flew down to El Calafate, almost at the bottom.  That yellow triangle coming up from the bottom is Antarctica.  Look how close we were!

We left Buenos Aires on Monday morning and took a cab to the airport.

It's a 3 hour flight to El Calafate:

The snacks on the plane:

Crackers, a lemon cookie and a chocolate cookie.  Yum.  Pictures from the plane:

We landed and grabbed a 15 minute cab ride to town.  

It was cold, but not as cold as I thought it would be (it was about 30 degrees F).  I was half expecting a blizzard.

We checked into our hostel at Las Cabanitas:

We got a little cabin:

Up the ladder:

It was tiny, but warm!

Then we went to the main street to try to find a tour for Los Glaciares National Park.

Main street:

The town reminded us of Lake Tahoe.  There were lots of stores and restaurants and the entire town was surrounded by the snow-capped Andes mountains.  

We easily got a tour for the next day, including a bus ride to and from the glaciers and a one hour boat ride, all for the low price of $100!  Online we would have easily paid $100/person!  Tours are one of those situations where it pays to wait until you're in the actual town to book your excursion.  Online is a rip-off!

We walked around trying to find a restaurant, but almost everything in town is closed from 1pm-4pm!  Ridiculous!  We went into the only open restaurant:

I got a salad and Aaron got a burger and both were horrid.  There are so many artisan chocolate shops in town that we filled up with chocolate instead:

We tried dulce de leche:

Mint:

Dark chocolate:

Almond brittle:

Yum!

We also hit the local grocery store because we were told our tour didn't provide food and the snack bar up there was crazy expensive.  We got salami, cheese (for me), a loaf of bread, apples, chips and water.

We went back to the cabin and got warm and relaxed til dinner.  Finally everything was open!

I ordered goulash (like a beef stew):

Aaron ordered pumpkin soup:

and battered shrimp:

Everything was good, especially the soup!

Then it was off to bed because tomorrow was going to be a long day!

Sweet dreams!

We woke up at 8am, got ready, ate breakfast and waited out front for our bus.  I wore EVERY piece of clothing I brought, including: a tank top, a tee-shirt, 2 sweaters, a jacket, leggings, yoga pants, jeans, 2 pairs of socks and 2 scarves.  I'm from California, I don't do well with cold.

At 9am, it was still dark outside:

We got on the bus and off we went!

Andes Mountains

We stopped on the way to take pictures and a video:

About an hour later, we were at the entrance:

The entrance fee into Los Glaciares National Park is about $25/person.

Then we drove for another 10 minutes until we saw what we came to see: The Perito Moreno Glacier.

Can you see the rainbow???  Amazing!

Glacier from afar

Perito Moreno Glacier is one of the only Patagonian glaciers that's growing.  This ice field is the third largest reserve of fresh water in the world.  It's about 3 miles wide, 240 feet high (above the water) and 558 feet deep (under water).  Only 20% of the glacier is above the water.  I know this is far away.  Don't worry, we got much closer.

Back on the bus to the "balconies."  

You walk along these paths (lots of stairs) down to see the glacier on different "balconies."

Here we go!

Glacier from up close

Another rainbow!

We really lucked out because multiple people said the weather was gorgeous.  Yes, it was frickin cold and super windy, but clear and very light rain, so we couldn't have asked for more!

We walked back up the million stairs and into the cafeteria for a snack:

Then back on the bus to get to our boat ride:

The boat was going to give us a close-up view of the glacier from different sides.

Glacier from the boat

Pieces of glacier break off all the time and we saw chunks floating in the water.  

Unfortunately, we didn't get to see any pieces break off.

Iceberg, right ahead!!

We definitely got a little picture-happy, but when are we ever going to see another glacier in Patagonia???

Insane

It was windy and freezing the closer we got, so we tried to cover every inch of our bodies.

Then back on the bus and back to El Calafate.  We got back to the hostel around 4:30pm, grabbed our stuff and got a cab to the airport.

Back in BA!

A once in a lifetime, 24-hour adventure!  If you ever get the chance to go to Patagonia, do it!!  It's pretty far out of the way, but I'm realizing all the best things are.  It was like nothing we've ever seen!  Amazing and unforgettable!