Hello Everyone! This is Chris writing this time around on our incredible introduction to Patagonia.

So we successfully made it to El Calafate and have begun our journey through the beautiful Patagonia region. Getting here was extremely easy. Our flight was a quick three hours and both airports were very manageable. The climate change has been a dramatic one, but the landscape in El Calafate is simply beautiful. The drive from the airport over to the hostel gave us a sample of the wind swept land. The flat barren plains that lead up to the towering snow capped mountains sustain little life besides the few splotches of scrub and the occasional cow out to pasture. However, coming into El Calafate we let out a sigh of relief as an oasis of a town was spotted in a small valley along side a beautiful lake.

Once at the hostel, America del Sur, we were immediately welcomed by a great group of staff that quickly began to brief us on our stay. Since we arrived around 7:30pm we needed to decide our plans for the next day as soon as possible. One of the staff gave us a quick run down on the tours of the glacier that were offered and their respective prices. We had an idea of what we wanted to do, but we were shocked by the prices. Nonetheless we quickly settled on the second best tour available, the Mini-Trek, and figured that the price of $450 pesos a piece plus $120 pesos for the park entrance fee would be well worth this once in a lifetime experience. (Roughly a $300 total) With that booked and off of our minds, we headed into for a dinner on main street. After walking the length of the main street we decided on a local parilla called Rick's. They offered an all you can eat carne asada (a selection of grilled meats) and various other dishes. For the sake of variety we ordered a pasta dish and one of the all you can eat asadas. The carne asada was quite impressive and the pasta was a great compliment to all the meat. Some of the meats we were served included: lamb, pork, chorizo, and this delicious slow cooked beef. The classic Argentine method of cooking beef is to basically cut the cow down the middle and splay it open like a butterfly over a wood fire. At festivals they will cook whole cows in this method, but at restaurants they typically use calves and have them cooking in the window to draw in customers. The beef ended up being our favorite as it was combination of tender meat and delicious crispy ends (my favorite part). To sum it up a great meal that gave us the proper nutrition for our great day to come.

On Wednesday morning we woke up at 7:45 to get showered up and grab a bite of the free breakfast at the hostel. A real basic breakfast that consists of coffee, juice, cereal, fresh toasted bread, and the always popular dulche de leche. The tour company picked us up from the hostel around 9:15 and after getting the rest of the group we were on our way to the national park. There are several glaciers located in the park and near to El Calafate, but the most popular and the one we happened to go to is called the Moreno Glacier. It is located about 40 miles away from town and it took us about an hour and a half to reach. Shortly before reaching it the driver pulled off at a stop so that we could take pictures of the glacier at a distance. Even at a distance we were shocked by the size and natural beauty of Moreno. Shortly there after we were able to get more intimate with the glacier as we were given two hours at the viewing decks to walk around, take pictures, and eat lunch. (The pictures will best explain these decks) The view was phenomenal. There truly are no words to explain. Sarah and I were sure to take advantage of our time and we walked every foot of the decks before even thinking about eating our sandwiches. After the viewing decks we drove back few kilometers and jumped on a boat that took us across the lake to a refuge that is located right on the edge of the glacier. It was there that we had our crampons (metal spikes that strap onto the bottom of shoes) strapped on and took off with an English speaking guide to walk on the glacier. Before coming to El Calafate, Sarah and I had one thing in mind and that was to actually walk on the glacier. While it might have broken our budget, being able to walk on the glacier made the cost well worth it. It was a cool experience being able stomp your way up the side of a glacier. Once in the middle the views were amazing. You will have to look at the pictures to see what I mean, but I never seen such vivid blues before in my life. Really awesome and I will leave the rest of the details up to the pictures. However, there is one more cool thing that the tour did. At the end of our trek through the glacier we came down a steep hill to a couple of tables set up with empty glasses and a bottle of whisky. So we had whisky on the rocks with ice from the glacier. Pretty funny because while we were having our crampons tied on Sarah and I were joking around with the guide about how Anthony Bourdain came to the glacier and had a glass of whisky on it.

After the mini trek we were dropped off at the hostel and began to unwind/fully appreciate what we had just done. We showered off and ran into town again for dinner on Main Street. This time we went cheap and just got pizza and beer (actually a perfect meal after a long day of trekking). After dinner we were quickly in bed. We woke up late this morning after deciding to have a chill day and save some money. While there is a great deal to do here in El Calafate the prices are really stupid. Apparently the prices have been skyrocketing over the past few years as the town has become a popular destination. In a lot of ways the Main Street reminds me of a little Aspen or similar mountain town. With that said, we are happy with what we were able to do yesterday and look forward to our next stop in Puerto Madryn. It is supposed to be a beautiful coastal town in Patagonia with access to a ton of marine life. It is actually mating season for Blue Whales and we heard from a couple that was on our Mini-Trekking tour that they saw a ton. In addition, there are Penguins, Elephant Seals, and normal Seals. It should be a lot of fun and of course you all will hear about it in our next blog.

I hope that you have enjoyed and as always Sarah and I look forward to your responses.