El Calafate was a refreshing retreat after being cut off from consumerism and mobile networks for the past week!

I was so excited to see shops that I followed Megan the mad shopper and bought myself a Patagonia shirt, a bracelet and ring (both made of local materials).

After worrying about the cold, the weather turned out to be unseasonably warm and tshirts was all that was requires by day.

We did the 'alternative' day trip out to the Perito Moreno Glacier. This included a morning stop over at a cafe that had a baby guanaco to play with :-)

Just before arriving at the glacier we hopped off the bus and did some trekking to get distant photos. We then hopped back on the bus and were taken down to where the glacier viewing platforms where. 

At this point I am pretty over seeing glaciers, but up close and personal it's pretty spectacular ... And the highlight is waiting for shards of the glacier to break off - which are apparently about 20 stories high ...

After a couple of hours here, we then took a boat cruise to view the glacier by water, then back on the bus & home.

Was happy to finally find some fast Internet and uploaded some highlights of my holiday pics to Facebook.

Left for Rio Grande at 5am so just dinner out and a few vinos ... Moved onto the reds now :-)