Lois writes:
Jour 69 au Paradis!
Laisser Puerto Moreno derriere nous fut une benediction: après avoir été à deux doigts de passer la nuit dans le plus moisi des hotels d’Argentine, nous avons bu le pire vin blanc jamais commandé par un Francais…… Oops! Sorry, got carried away, I need to switch to some kind of English. Let me try.
Day 69 finishes in Paradise! (this is the name of our hotel in El Chalten, promising!)
Leaving Perito Moreno this morning was a relief for several reasons: we almost spent a night in the worst hotel in Argentina (see Day 68 blog), we had the worst white wine ever ordered by a Frenchman, and Chris jumped all over the place during the dinner “something is crawling up my leg!” After 69 days, he wished…. Then at 4am, seemed that every villager went out of THE one and only nightclub and ended the party below our windows. No way to call the cops as they were part of the gang!
After a good couple of hours driving through a desolated landscape and spectacular skies,
we realised we’d left the Welsh country when guanacos replaced sheep,
went through narrow bridges
and 80 kms of dirt roads.
We welcomed a temporary addition to our team with Natalia and Marcos, waiting in the middle of nowhere for good Samaritans to pick them up. They had already spent 3 years roaming up and down Latin America on foot. Before leaving us they said their next trip will take place AFTER buying a car….
We reflected on that powerful thought and decided that it should be the same for us, and will change our actual chariots for a good old Defender, motorbikes or even a horse (my Kingdom for a horse, is that a Scottish quote?)
Arrived in El Chalten, a windswept village surrounded by glaciers and cliffs, to be welcomed by this guy! A Dutchman whose Scottish friend had given him his Glasgow Rangers shirt!
Tonight we will brave the gale force 9 in El Chalten in search for pizzas to load that much needed carb before we start the 250 kms climb to El Calafate tomorrow!
Our America’s Challenge Drive 