Glaciers at Christmas in El Calafate, Argentina

After being on the go, sightseeing in Buenos Aires and Ushuaia, hiking in El Chalten, it was finally time to chill out a bit in El Calafate. We made the 3 hour shuttle bus trip from El Chalten to a surprisingly quiet hotel up on the hill overlooking Lake Argentino. We were able to pick our own room, and had the dining hall pretty much to ourselves. As you may recall, we couldn’t get any cash from the ATM in El Chalten, so one of our first stops in the bigger town was the bank. The town of El Chalafate was a mile long boulevard lined with restaurants and stores, with cute little places also down some of the side streets.

As we grabbed a bite at a local pizza place, we again saw dogs roaming the street. We found out that, as in El Chalten, people just let their dogs out when they go to work. I think there are a few more strays in El Calafate, but most looked well cared for by the locals. I’m sure they get a lot of handouts from the tourists as well. Some smartly sat outside the grocery stores!

One afternoon, we decided to find a nice wine store to pick up a bottle for Christmas dinner. What we found was a cool wine shop offerinf wine tasting of wines from all over Argentina. We also found some nice bottles from other regions. During our wine tasting, we started talking to a guy who came in with his dog to buy some wine for his travels. We quickly discovered that he was American, and from Colorado. He went on to tell us about his epic road trip from Colorado down to Argentina. He, his wife, and dog were on their way to the end of the world, Ushuaia. He was driving in a modified 4 wheel RV. Now that is a long drive!!

I was also in need of a haircut, so I took a chance on a little barbershop, where I received a really nice cut from a guy who spoke no English. A few pictures of a cut from my hair stylist in SF, and my request translated via google translate and he knew exactly how to cut my hair. The most amazing thing, though, was the price: only $6.75, and that was after leaving a very generous tip…..I wasn’t sure what to tip, and the $4-5 hair cut just seemed too little for what I received. This was the cheapest haircut I have had since I was a kid.

We spent several afternoons and evenings talking and videochatting with friends and family as we were quickly approaching Christmas. An interesting fact: in Argentina, Christmas is for family and fire works, and less about decorations and Christmas carols. There were very few decorations up at the hotel or at the shops. Also, the Argentinians open presents on Christmas Eve (midnight) and then have a big, family meal on Christmas day. Christmas Eve is kind of like New Years Eve in the US, with the fireworks and going out to fancy dinners.

The highlight of our stay in El Calafate was an amazing boat tour on Lake Argentino to visit some of the glaciers, one of which is still growing (one of the few glaciers in the world that is expanding). We set out on a 100 passenger boat on a very cold December morning (remember, it is early summer in Argentina). The first hour or so, we were cruising along the crystal clear water of the lake, with steep cliffs and rock outcroppings along our path.

We then spotted our first glacier, unfortunately we had to view this massive piece of ice from a few miles away, I assume for safety reasons. This glacier had a large piece of ice fall off its side and sent out a fairly good size wave. BTW, Argentina does some things very well: they only allow a handful of authorized cruises on this lake - no personal watercraft.

We then headed into a deep bay that was cut out by glacier number 2. This was a much smaller glacier, but we were able to get a closer than the first one. On our way out of the bay a large iceberg flipped over right beside our boat. Jos tried to catch it on her phone, but in her excitement forgot to hit the record button. We then headed for our main stop, the Perito Moreno. This is a massive glacier that is still growing. Incredibly awe-inspiring. The boat made a pass along the front of the glacier, with towering walls several hundred feet high. This is one of the most famous glaciers in Argentina. You can walk on the glacier (guided tour) and kayak by it, but the kayaks had to stay about ¼ mile from the sheer walls. The thing that most struck us was the extremely loud cracking noises that we heard as the glacier shifts. I can not imagine hearing that noise while I was standing on it. This is a national park, so there were miles of elevated walkways to view the glacier from different angles and heights. It was amazing just sitting there, watching the ice melt at the bottom, and seeing the snow accumulating up towards the top of the glacier, and considering the immense scale of what we were looking at. We just could not get over the crackling sounds. Unfortunately, we did not get to see a piece of it fall off into the lake.

We also chatted with two guys on the cruise from Sao Paolo, Brazil. One of the guys was a great photographer. He had some very fancy equipment, and showed us some of his prior work. In all, a wonderful day on the water viewing glaciers, seeing some truly spectacular and unique sights. We ended up having Christmas Eve dinner at the hotel, which turned out to be wonderful. The very nice waiter picked out a great bottle of wine. Jos had located and booked our Christmas brunch at a nice little restaurant in town.

We had a very relaxing Christmas day, called loved ones, then had a good night’s rest — because the next day we were flying back to Buenos Aires. We had a late flight to BA, with GE. Fv Bret q. s vvvrcejust a one night stopover, before heading to London to celebrate New Years 2020!!!