Argentina! (Part 1 of ?)

As I mentioned last time I posted, I'm in Argentina. I landed in Buenos Aires on Wednesday Jan. 13 after a long but uneventful trip with long layovers in Miami and Lima. There are, of course, more direct ways to get here; but that was the cheapest.

I stayed at a hostel in Buenos Aires. They used to call these places youth hostels, but they've dropped the "youth" part in more recent years. They're geared toward those traveling on the cheap, so they tend to attract mostly folks a fewer years younger than me. But I wasn't even close to the oldest person there. In addition to being cheap, they are great places to meet people. The one I stayed at had a wonderful rooftop terrace. I met people from several continents while hanging out up there, drinking 1 liter bottles of Quilmes, the official cheap beer of travelers in Argentina.

I had always heard that evenings start late in South America. This is certainly true in Buenos Aires. On a few night we showed up at restaurants after midnight and had to wait for a table. I don't know if bars ever close.

I spent a few of my days wandering somewhat aimlessly around the city, taking in the sights. One of the top tourist attractions of the city is the cemetery in the wealthy neighborhood of La Recoleta. This is where the rich and famous of Buenos Aires are buried. Below are a bunch of pictures I took around the cemetery.

For foreigners, and perhaps Argentinians as well, the most famous person buried in the cemetery is Eva "Evita" Peron. The cemetery was about to close and I had not yet found her tomb. I figured it would be easy to find. This was probably based on my visit to another of the world's famous cemeteries--Pere LaChaise in Paris. For Americans, the cemetery's most well-known tomb is, sadly enough, that of Jim Morrison. (Don't get me started on Jim Morrison--everyone needs to have at truly hate at least one band, and my band of choice is The Doors...) His tomb is quite easy to find--just follow the graffiti. Fortunately, this cemetery has very little graffiti, and none indicating where Evita is buried. The cemetery was about to close when I approached an older man and asked him, with my thick accent, "Disculpe, senor, donde esta la tumba de Eva Peron?" Evidently I got the point across, because his face lit up and he told me to follow him. On our way the guards told us it was closing time, but he pleaded with them to let me see her tomb. They resisted but eventually relented. While walking to the tomb, the man went on and on in Spanish, oblivious to the fact that I understood maybe one in five words he spoke. All I could tell is that he liked Evita. We had a quick glance at the tomb before the guards, who had followed us the whole way, insisted that it was time to go.

After five days in Buenos Aires, I boarded a plane for El Calafate, in Patagonia. The airport in El Calafate, which is less than 10 years old, has made southern Patagonia much more accessible. One of the guide books I've consulted says that just 10 years ago, the trip from Buenos Aires to El Calafate was "an authentic adventure." Now it's a quick and cheap flight. I checked into a hostel here and went for a walk to see the town.

Just outside the hostel I saw this truck. Note the print on the back of the tank. In case you can't read it, it says "Peligro Explosive." Hopefully that's just a remnant from the truck's former job...

El Calafate is a small town on the Patagonian steppe, about an hour's drive from the Andes. Since its airport opened it's become quite the tourist trap. Its main street is several blocks of restaurants and shops selling clothes, local crafts, souvenirs and all the stuff you would expect. It's crammed with hundreds of people speaking many languages and dozens of seemingly well-fed and astonishingly well-behaved stray dogs.

The next day I took a day-trip into Parque Nacional los Glaciares. I signed up with a tour operator to take a simple hike on the Perito Moreno glacier. The Perito Moreno glacier is one of the world's largest and one of the few that is not retreating. We drove out to the park and hiked around for a bit, taking in the glacier from terra firma. Unfortunately the day started off rather dreary--cold, windy and wet. (This will likely be a theme in Patagonia--you don't come here for the weather.)

My first view of the glacier, through the bus window.

The park has an area with boardwalks that lead down to the glacier. This is the view from the upper observation deck.

And from the lower observation deck. One fascinating thing about this glacier is that from time to time it advances over Lago Argentina. You can see that the lake has tunneled through the glacier in the pictures above. Every several years, the glacier will advance over the lake and act as a dam. Water will build up on one side, and eventually the water pressure will cause the dam to rupture. This only happens once a decade or so, and is impossible to predict, but I'm told that the lucky few visitors who see it are in for quite a show.

Next we took a boat across the lake to get right up to the glacier.

We hiked along the side of the glacier for about an hour before donning our crampons and getting out on the ice.

Once on the ice we moved pretty quickly, so I didn't stop for as many pictures as I would have liked. But I got a few good ones.

One of our guides checking out a cave. It went back several feet then narrowed into a small blue hole.
While the rest of the people in the group were taking their turns looking in the cave, I talked the guides into letting me borrow a couple of ice tools and climbing around a bit. It's my first ice climb (and my first ice free solo!). I, of course, didn't go very far, but it was fun to climb around a little bit on this wall.

Peering down a deep hole.

Looking across the ice toward some small waterfalls.

We also found a short tunnel through the ice. Most of the group took a pass on crawling through the tunnel, but I had to give it a try.

Disappearing into the tunnel.

And coming out the other end! The tunnel was just wide enough to squeeze through, and went for about 20 feet or so before opening up into this hole. The slight stream of near-freezing water in the bottom the tunnel was a bit uncomfortable, but it was still worth it.

Another member of my group getting some help climbing out of the hole.

After a few hours on the ice, we headed back to solid ground and hiked back to the boat. Here are a few pictures from the hike down. You'll notice that it has stopped raining and the sun has come out!






Back on the boat, where we all toasted with whisky on glacial ice.
Some interesting rock formations as seen from the boat.

That's all for now. I'm about to head to El Chalten, a smaller town right in the mountains, where I'll be heading out for a few nights of backpacking. I'm really looking forward to some time without a roof above my head!

As always, thanks for reading!