Day 70 Monday 3rd December 2018:  International Rescue Operations en route to El Calafate   

Mike writes:

The main attraction in El Chalten is supposed to be the view of the amazing serrated peaks of Cerro Torre and Mount Fitzroy.  The weather stubbornly refused to co-operate but we got the odd glimpse through the clouds.

But it turned out that mountain views aren’t the only thing El Chalten had to offer.  We took refuge in its second best attraction, La Vineria, a friendly apres ski style bar offering a very drinkable beer, appropriately named Scotch and a decent wine selection.

Sadly not all of El Chalten’s hospitality industry was as accommodating.  We were grudgingly promised a table at the restaurant on condition that we waited outside for half a hour in a Force 8 gale. We agreed as John had fortuitously brought a couple of bottles of Finca Ambrosia’s finest with him which would help while the time away.  Despite offers to pay corkage the grumpy owner was having none of it and insisted we order his inferior wine. We sent in our secret weapon, the smooth-talking Frenchman, Lois, to negotiate. He was so successful in his mission that he and John were immediately evicted, being told that even reading the wine list had to be done outside.

Naturally we took our custom elsewhere and enjoyed a fine meal at Techado Negro next door where we educated Lois in the Scottish vernacular. He is now adept at describing anything good as “the dog’s bollocks”.

We set off after breakfast intending to get to El Calafate early and head off to the glacier but had only gone 20kms when we were flagged down by stranded travellers whose bus had broken down on the way to the airport 100 miles away. This was clearly another job for our Anglo/Scottish/Franco/Panamanian/Guatemalan international rescue force. We squashed two Argentinians, an American and an Englishman plus luggage into the trucks and sped off to the airport.

Despite our rescue mission we got to El Calafate in time to drop the luggage off at our hotel – Los Gnomos (the Gnomes), a clean if basic hosteria set in a light industrial estate with possibly the least attractive outlook in El Calafate. Nevertheless, John seemed right at home.

As we stopped to refuel, our motoring expert, Chris, spotted a flat tyre and was about to leap into action to change it when he realised that Doug, the tyre changer extraordinaire, was no longer with us.  The rest of us showed little interest in assisting with the tyre changing challenge. Fortunately Frankie’s long experience in maintaining his extensive fleet meant that he came up with an inspired plan.  We should go to the El Calafate Kwikfit. This was an operation run by 2 men and a dog.

20 minutes and £4 later we sent Doug his redundancy notice and got back on the road out of town to the Perito Moreno Glacier.  The views en route to Perito Moreno were stunning but nothing compared to what was to come.

The Perito Moreno Glacier, one of the few glaciers in the world which is advancing rather than retreating – is quite simply one of the most extraordinary sights we’ve ever seen. Massive chunks of the glacier fell off as we watched accompanied by a sound like thunder.

To top it off a couple of condors put on an aerobatic display.

We all agreed it was a very special experience indeed as we headed back to the trucks.

However our work was not yet over…. another international rescue was required. This time a young South Korean student needed to get back to town. We were of course up to the task and agreed to take young Ho Lee Crap – at least I think that was his name. It was difficult to tell as he had his eyes shut and was sweating profusely when I asked. This may or may not be connected to the fact that Chris drove back as if it was a Rally Time Trial stage.

Tomorrow the plan is to see more of the Glaciers National Park and we may even bump into Maureen and Karen who leave their luxury yurt tomorrow heading for El Calafate.