Day 71 Tuesday 4th December: Glaciered out

John writes:

Last night we hit El Calafate town for dinner and as usual there were plenty of French old crocks around.

We were recommended to try Zaina where we had an excellent Argentinian meal including heaps of meat and guanaco stew after aperitifs of local beer (was good) and gin (wasn’t good) plus the medicinal negroni (perfect!).

Our waiter, Marco, didn’t look old enough to be working but was very enthusiastic, especially when trying to advise on wine selection. Having ignored his advice I felt guilty so asked what his favourite wine was – a bit like pulling teeth but we got there in the end:

Marco what is your favourite wine? “Argentinian”

Where in Argentina? “Mendoza”

Where in Mendoza? “Uco Valley’

Where in the Uco Valley? “Gualtallary”!!!!!!!

What a boy!!! Totally unsolicited but he got to the perfect answer. Turns out he has heard of Finca Ambrosia and of course Daniel Pi so we had an amigo for life. I am sure he will make a great sommelier one day as long as he keeps pushing Gualtallary and Finca Ambrosia.

This morning was an early start after not too much sleep for our 5 hour boat trip to the Upsala  and Spegazzini glaciers. The beautiful morning made it almost bearable and we set off with the old men (Chris, Mike and Frankie) pushing ahead and us toy boys (Lois, Craig and myself) following meekly behind.

Enthusiasm got the better of us and we arrived at Punta Bandera 90 minutes before departure. Just as well as we then hit classic Latino bureaucracy where the most simple act of paying for your ticket and boarding the boat became an exercise in complexity with 2 tickets, 2 lines and 2 check points. We were then subjected to 30 minutes of instructions of what we couldn’t do.

The boat was full and for the first time in 71 days our motley crew actually reduced the average age! Was a bit of a challenge being amongst aggressive septuagenarians who were pushing and shoving at every opportunity. We did have the chance to upgrade to ‘VIP’ – effectively First Class with free food and drink all day but at US$75 per person we opted to stay in the scrum.

Unfortunately the late night and early start was a bit too much for a couple of us – Frankie had finished his packed lunch by 8am and Lois required his baby sleep one on board.

Our journey up Lago Argentino was yet another special experience. We also understand why we are staying at Hosteria Los Gnomes.

Our first stop was the Upsala glacier where the boat couldn’t approach close but we made up for it by circling the most photographed iceberg in the world where the septuagenerian gangs were out in full force. A telescopic lens becomes a dangerous weapon in the hands of a 75 year old French granny.

 

 

Then another hour to a different part of the lake and the Spegazzini glacier which is 75km long and stretches back to the border with Chile. It is 135m at its highest with spectacular ice formations and we were able to sail within 300m so had a real feel for the scale and power of nature. We saw a few ‘calvings’ where the ice sheers off into the sea.

The late night and early morning plus spectacular scenery and fresh air caught up with the team. Patagonia is having a big impact on us all and today was no exception but we are definitely glaciered out and ready to move on.

Tonight we overlap with Maureen and Karen who arrive this evening on a 5 hour bus journey from Puerto Natales in the Torres del Paine National Park in Chile. They will be in El Calafate for 2 nights before joining us in Ushuaia. After 9 days of boys only we had better scrub up well. Tomorrow we retrace the girls’ bus journey with a relatively short drive for us of 270kms to Puerto Natales.