Wednesday--March 2--El Calafate--Perito Merino Glacier

Day Sixty Nine--Wednesday--March 2--El Calafate, Argentina--Glacier Perito Merino

Rise and shine 7:00 a.m. very early in order to enjoy my one day excursion to Perito Merino.

When I came down to breakfast there was another couple there and I discovered that they were going on the trip as well.  They were from Spain and didn’t speak much English so I was forced to practice my Spanish.

The bus arrived around 8:15 with lots of other people already on.  We were the last pickup.  We were on a full size bus but it wasn’t full.  We had a very nice guide who explained everything in both English and Spanish.  I later learned the bus only had 3 Spanish speaking people.

The Tour Alternative

She explained that we were driving the back road, which was a dirt road, because it offered some more interesting things to see.  I think that’s why they call their company “alternative tours”.

I can't get enough of the clouds

Along the way we stopped a few times when the driver saw birds on the road.  

We also found some Calafate trees.  My new favorite fruit.  They look just like blueberries but taste different.  Also there are seeds inside each berry also unlike blueberries.  But it is amazing how similar they look.  The Calafate tree is only found in Patagonia (remember them from Chile) in both Chile and Argentina.  The town of El Calafate is filled with "tourist" shops selling Calafate jam.

Calafate berries

I’m not sure what these birds are but I think one was an eagle or a hawk.

along the road to Perito Merino Glacier

  

taken from the bus

Along this dirt road our guide explained a bit of history of the estancia’s in this area.  She said there was a great book, “The Tragic Patagonia” that tells about the revolution that took place in this area in the early 1900’s.  The workers were feeling exploited by the owners and stopped working for one year.

The Estancia

Our next stop was at this working Estancia (ranch) that had goats and guanacos.  

The Guanaco is native to the arid, mountainous regions of South America. Guanaco are found in the altiplano of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Chile andArgentina. In Chile and Argentina, they are more numerous in Patagonian regions, in places like the Torres del Paine National Park, and Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego. In these areas they have more robust populations, since there are limitations on grazing competition from livestock.

The guanacos are in the same family as llamas, are wild and protected in Patagonia.  See how tame they can be.  

Me and my guanaca

In this area there are many Estancia’s.  Most are working ranches that also offer accommodations for tourists.  It might be interesting to stay on one.

a goat not a sheet

We stayed here for a short visit then continued on toward the glacier for our hike.  We stopped one one side of the lake with the intension of walking around to get closer to the glacier.  

view of the glacier during the hike

The hike wasn’t difficult and took about an hour.  We ended the hike at the boat dock but the guide said we were going to the visitor center first and then coming back for our boat ride.

Perito Merino Glacier

At the visitors center there is a cafeteria and also you can walk out on the “balcony’s.”  They have created metal walkways so you can get closer and have different views of the glacier.  This glacier was incredible. 

view from the balcony's

side view from the balcony's

It looked more like a  mountain.  The way the ice created little peaks on top of the mass was so interesting.  This was very different from the glaciers I had seen on the cruise and much bigger.  The mass of it was huge.  Our guide told us that this glacier is one of the only ones that hasn’t lost any mass.  Scientists are always measuring glaciers for their loss and this one has not had any, unlike in Antarctica.

We spent nearly 2 hours here.  I went into the cafeteria and had a coffee before I walked out on the “balconies”.

At 2:00 the bus came back for us and took us down to the boat dock.  The weather had been very good but seemed to be changing, for the worse.

The boat ride was great.  Getting so close to the glacier you could see the incredible turquoise blue inside the ice.  

It was amazing.  I’m not sure the photo can really demonstrate what the naked eye sees.  It did start to rain a bit and the wind started to pick up but it was still o.k.

I met a woman from England who was certainly near 70 who told me she was going ice trekking the next day.  Ice Trekking is actual walking on the glacier.  I was very impressed with that.  I didn’t have time to do Ice Trekking here and hoped I could do it in El Chalten.

We got off the boat and back on the bus.  The bus ride back was on the conventional road and took about 1 1/2 to get back to town.  The bus took me back to the B&B.  It was nearly 5 and I’d hoped to have some answer about the flight change. 

Unfortunately, Alejandro said there wasn’t any phone call and I checked my e-mail and there also was nothing.

I got on the phone to call LAN.  It took a while to get through to reservations.  When all the lines are busy they tell you to call back.  I knew that I had until 7:30 to either get through to LAN or walk back into town and buy the ticket.

While I was waiting to call LAN again I got on the internet and found a cheaper fare to Buenos Aires than the travel agent gave me through Expedia.  The clock is ticking and I continue to try LAN.  I finally get through and have a long conversation with an agent.  He says that my request has been approved and he will check to see how much it will cost.  He comes back and tells me it will cost $84.95.  O.k. how can I pay for this.  Before I could breath the phone went dead.  I got disconnected.  Really.

I called back and went through a similar waiting period and got Javier on the phone this time.  I explained to Javier the previous conversation I had and that I just wanted to pay the fee.  However, Javier informed me that there was nothing in the record about the conversation I just had.  Javier was very patient, I certainly wasn’t, and went through the system and found it possible for me to take the flight from El Calafate to Buenos Aires.   I explained to him how I got disconnected and I was a bit nervous over losing our connection so he gave me his e-mail and full name.  Anyway, we were able to conclude the transaction and actually Javier said I only had to pay $75.40 because I didn’t need to pay the taxes.  Go figure.  

All this took nearly 2 hours.  I felt compelled to go back to the travel agency and give them something for all their effort, especially since I was now not going to buy a ticket from them.  I really appreciated all their effort.

I walked into town and went to one of the chocolate shops to buy a small box for the travel agency.

I went to their office and handed him the bag and explained what happened.  They couldn’t believe the story and were very appreciative of my gift.  I told them it was the least I could do because in my opinion they went above and beyond helping me.

It was after 8:00, I was tired and really not in the mood to sit at a restaurant.  I picked up two cheese empanadas and a cookie for dinner then walked back to the B&B happy to have concluded another heart stopping moment on this journey.

I needed to pack my things and get to bed because I had to awake extremely early for me.

Patience is a virture I don’t really have but am learning to appreciate.  Breathe deep, have faith.  Two things I have been telling myself throughout my travels and so far it’s been working.