We were heading to El Calafate (3400 kms from Bs As), the little town in the very south of Argentina from where you do the excursion to Perito Moreno, the astonishing glacier at the end of the world... we could have taken another road which would have meant 2700 kms instead of 3400kms but that would have meant driving 350 kms approx on dirt road.. not even dirt its a rocks road and if anything happens to you, you are stuck.. no phone reception, nearby towns or tug vehicles to come and rescue you in the middle of the patagonian desert..too risky for us so we opted to drive the extra few hundred k´s.

It took us three nights and four days to get to the magnificent glacier - which looks like a massive piece of ice that comes from the mountains.. it's 36kms long so it looks like another planet really.. also, this is the best part, it was summer so it was melting.. this means that huge pieces of ice.. (some 50 mts long) were falling from the glacier causing a very loud noise and sending a massive wave to the lake on which the glacier sits right in front of you.. it is so big that it all seems to happen in slow motion.. all the time you can hear it cracking and popping. The stress, pressure and tension of it must cause this magical sound. And the colour of the ice is incredible. Bright bright blue like and ice lolly. It really does look like the end of the earth.. like there could possibly be nothing beyond it. The freezing cold breeze coming from the glacier is bone chilling but you can´t help but spend hours there staring at it, waiting for the next crack or crumble. There is an option to walk across the glacier but we don´t do that but we do take a boat ride to the face of the glacier which gaves you another completely different view of it.

On the way to Perito Moreno we stayed on petrol stations and on one camping site.. always sleeping in the minivan, of course.. the first time we slept in a petrol sation we were a little concerned in case it wasn't safe, or they kicked us out in the middle of the night, or whatever.. in the end it was absolutely fine and for the rest of the trip we stayed in the big YPF's where truck drivers, families and other camper vans were staying - it´s very popular to do.. also the big petrol sations have 24 hs security and are open all night so it was safe.. most of them even had showers for 10 pesos (only 8 minutes though!) and a key advantage.. hot water for coffee in the morning!

Story of the flask:
We needed a flask to keep hot water for the coffee while driving (had to be awake while driving) but because we were into this low budget mode we waited until we found a cheap one.. but one day when making the coffee Tomas added boiling water and shook it like he was making a cocktail to dilute the coffee.. of course what happend, a few minutes later the flask exploded because of the pressure.. scared the s#*! out of us cause it sounded like a bomb.. anyway, we had to buy another (expensive) in a supermarket but because people nick the rubber pouring lids, stores display them without the lids which they give to you at the till.. it couldn't be any other way..., 200kms later we realised we forgot to ask for the lid and now we had an expensive flask with no lid.. what did we do in the next town? We went to the first supermarket we saw and stole a lid.. yes.. stole it.. bloddy flask..

All this time on the road.. literally 10 hrs per day made Nikki and pro at making sandwiches on her lap. We ate sandwiches, fruit with dule de leche (English poeple google it, Nikki says it´s the best thing to come out of Argentina) drank coffee and listened to Bob Dylan for 10 hrs....