Wednesday 21st November.
An early start and off to the airport for our three hour flight south to El Calafate.
All went smoothly and we arrived to bright sunshine and wonderful views over the steppes, bisected by a bright blue river of glacial meltwater.
The landscape here was very striking, and so reminiscent of the coloured stripes used on the cover of the book ‘In Patagonia’ by Bruce Chatwin. Vast flat plains of pale green, yellow and silver scrub, dark reddish brown soil, grey and turquoise water topped by the bright blue sky with occasional white clouds. The landscape is scattered with clusters of small single storey dwellings with tin roofs - farms or estancias - and small villages.
El Calafate is similar. First impressions are of a pioneer town with a sprawl of small buildings scattered on the hillside and along dirt roads above the shore of Lago Argentino. Many of the buildings are of tin and have tin roofs.
It’s incredibly windy - all the time, and it would not be surprising to see a tumbleweed rolling down the street.
Our hotel is just above the town - Hotel Patagonia Rebelde, the Rebels Hotel! It is similar in style, with external walls clad in wriggly, but inside there are beautifully polished wooden floors and beams.
The plaster walls are coloured with earthy tones of ochre and terracotta. Everywhere there are old photos and memorabilia - reminders of the early 20th and late 19th century. It feels old, but in fact was only built 15years ago, from recycled materials taken from the old railway station.
There is a cosy open plan bar and breakfast area full of antiques and curios, filled with comfortable chairs and sofas for lounging.
We settled in, wrote some blog and then walked down hill into El Calafate to have a look round. On the way we passed the ‘Healthy food store’ where we picked up a couple of marvellous paninis to munch on as we walked.
The town is a simple high street with a couple of blocks of houses either side.
Next stop was the bird sanctuary/nature reserve at Laguna Nimez. We were greeted by an enthusiastic helpful and cheery ranger who gave us a quick resume of the wetland, grassland, lakeshore and steppe habitats and we set off into the wind! Although skies were and the sun shone, it was pretty chilly and we regretted not bringing a) costs and hats and b) binoculars...
Nevertheless it was extraordinary walk - we saw numerous flamingoes and upland geese, a southern lapwing with chicks and countless ducks. A Chimango caracara almost landed on Bills shoulder!
We crossed a small bridge and walked into the shore - the beach was populated by dozens of tiny snipe.
On the way back to the rangers hut we were chirped at noisily by a rigid collared sparrow and and an appropriately named spectacled tyrant.
Our walk back into town for dinner was hampered by a street dog who adopted us and then attracted the attention of other street dogs as we walked along the streets, which caused much slathering and bearing of teeth so that we were very relieved to make it safely back into civilisation!
We had some craft beer whilst waiting for a table for dinner at the highly recommended ‘Mi Viejo’ restaurant (built in memory of the owner’s father). We were tempted in by the display of four lambs spit roasting vertically round an open fire - forget donner kebab, this was more Masai warrior!
We opted for delicious roast lamb with salad and pumpkin mash, washed form with Pinot Noir.
It was a chilly walk back to the Patagonia Rebelde, despite Bill’s chivalrous loan of a jacket, and once again we were almost asleep before we undressed!