St. Paddy's Day in Argentilly

Lots of paving of Ruta 40. Apparently by September of this year the whole thing will be paved. One of the appeals for Zach to do this trip now was to traverse it in as much of its natural state as possible. Time is running out - those boys are busy. We spent a good part of the morning driving alongside piles of gravel and boys playing with trucks.

Today is one of the longer days in the itinerary so we made sure to stop a couple of times. Finding diesel has been a challenge - not all stations carry it and even when we find a station, they may not always be open or stocked. We managed to get 20L from the estancia owners and 15L from a gas station in Bajo Caracoles. Thank goodness.

We stopped at a great place for lunch. Zach pulled over on the side of the road just outside of Bajo Caracoles on Ruta 41. We hiked up to the top of the hill and picnicked on all sorts of goodies. There was no wind and it was deafeningly quiet. We had a couple of mates before setting off on the next stage.

About twenty minutes down the road I asked "Where's Spot?". Spot is not a little running dog. Spot is the GPS tracking device Zach has installed to send updates of our location to his blog so people can track us. He'd taken it out at lunch and forgotten about it. We drove off without it and had to drive back to find it. Thank goodness it's orange! It was a bit further down the road from where we'd stopped before and there was definite evidence of impact at speed! Fortunately Spot survived the blow and we all resumed the journey.

Ruta 41 shows up as white on the map which means 'only useable when dry'. That's the road we took through to the Chilean border. It was a twisty windy road with beautiful landscapes hiding around every corner. I thoroughly enjoyed the scenery and Zach was having fun negotiating the roads.

This isn't a well trodden road so the Argentinian border crossing was a little hut where they wrote our names in pen in a little paper ledger! How quaint! We then entered No-Man's-Land and drove on a fair bit before getting to the Chilean border station.

Not two seconds in the door and the guarda says that we can't enter Chile - the vehicle is right-hand drive. Zach calmly explained that he'd been back and forth in to Chile three times now and it wasn't a problem. The guy seemed adamant but agreed to check. I wasn't sure which way it was going to go and time passed more slowly as we waited.

Eventually he came back and said that he was sorry but he couldn't let us through! Zach tried his last argument that we didn't have enough fuel to go back the way we came; we're running low! The guy didn't budge and instead showed us another route through Argentina that we'll have to take tomorrow.

Gulp! I knew there'd be some hiccups on this trip but I didn't expect them so soon! At least the guarda agreed to let us camp on-site since it was already after 20h.

We parked the truck next to a building that would shelter us from the prevailing winds and set up camp. We cooked up what food we had but given we knew we can't take fruit, vegetables, dairy or meat through the border, we were a bit lean on selection!

We're both very curious about what will happen tomorrow. Maybe if the guarda sleeps on it he'll relent or maybe we'll have better luck at the next border crossing north of here. Either way, tonight we're camping at the border station in Pasa Roballo - between Argentina and Chile what I've christened Argentilly! This is proving to be a fabulously unscripted adventure full of all sorts of surprises! Just what I signed up for!

The Middle of Nowhere

After a couple of cushy days in civilization we are heading out into the middle of nowhere today. It's going to be roughly 3000km north to get to Santiago along Ruta 40 in Argentina and the Carretera Austral through Chile.

Shortly after we left El Calafate, Zach had me take a minute to appreciate smooth ride we were having on the paved roads.

It wasn't long before we got onto the original gravelly Ruta 40 which really brought the imagination's impression of 'Patagonia' to mind: wild, barren and beautiful.

As we entered the biggest town on the map for 100's of kilometers, it reinforced that we really are in the middle of nowhere! The three roads were all gravel, there were no shops and only one small restautant - cerrado either for siesta or forever! The gas station didn't have diesel and only had a limited amount of food and drinks. Hmmm.

Zach did all of the driving today. I expect to drive at some point but he likes it and I enjoy my role as DJ, navigator and providing food and beverage services on the journey. The gravel, potholes and wind added nice challenges keeping the journey exciting. At one point we saw decent sized waves in puddles appearing to be blowing uphill. We also saw the iconic tumbleweed blowing across the road.

We made it to Estancia La Angostura, our destination for the day, by 18h. Staying at estancias, or big ranches, is a big part of Patagonian life. They come in varying degrees of grandeur. Some are castles with elaborate gardens, pools and stables. Ours was more of a simple affair with a main house, a small camping area, a modest building with 'dormis' and then a few outbuildings for the ranch. There was even the mandatory grizzled gaucho riding by with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth and a recently slaughtered sheep for that evening's dinner draped behind his saddle.

It was really in the middle of nowhere. In this part of Patagonia, houses are very far apart. No buildings in the way meant we had an unspoiled sunset. No light pollution meant we had the perfect sky for checking out the stars. Perfect.

More ice?!

I was just in Antarctica. You'd think I'd seen enough ice and snow to last me a lifetime. Ah...but Glaciar Perito Moreno is different.

Its advance of up to 2m a day makes it one of the fastest moving glaciers in the world. As a result, many chunks of ice break off daily with spectacular cracking sounds followed by falling, splashing and bobbing of the ice. It was fun watching for the bergs to calf. Zach and I were hypnotized watching and waiting. We watched one big crack grow over the hour or so that we were there and eventually it got so big that the ice broke off of the glacier and fell in to the lake. It made our day to see it.

After we wandered along the walkway, we went down to the pier to take an hour boat ride which took us even closer to the glacier. I took SO many pictures and I will have to delete many of them, but I think I have a few nice ones in the batch to work with!

From the walkway:

From the boat:

Zach working on Babe in anticipation of tomorrow's departure in an inspiring location:

The arrival of Captain Zach

I spent a deliciously lazy morning at the hotel. I had breakfast in the dining room of the hotel with this inspiring view of Lago Argentino:

I organised a few things, paid some bills (reality can't entirely be avoided on this trip), and Skyped with Mom and Dad and later with Jocelyn. It was good to get caught up a bit. I do miss friends and family!

News from home: Susan is having a boy! She's due around June 6th now. How exciting! Does this mean I'll be an uncle?!? ;o)

The hotel:

I walked into town mid-afternoon which took much longer than I expected. It took a while to figure out where I was as none of the roads have street signs. They were all gravel roads too, except for the old airport landing strip (check out El Calafate on Google Maps - its pretty cool).

A view of El Calafate:

By the time I reached town I was pretty hungry so I stopped at a cute little cafe. There I ordered a licuado and a ham and cheese crepe which sounded promising but ended up disappointing me. I somehow felt violated when the bill arrived for 76$ (~$19) for a lunch I didn't really enjoy. I am definitely in a tourist town!

Of course in a tourist town, there are many tourists and wouldn't you know it, I happened to run into Katharina and Marco from the Antarctic cruise! We grabbed a coffee and caught up a bit.

It was perfect timing as I'd been researching tours to the glacier for tomorrow and I knew they'd been. The tours were upwards of 680$ which seemed steep. They recommended NOT taking a tour and gave me tips on how to put it together on our own. Sorted! And no bus full of tourists. Brilliant!

When I got back to the hotel I saw Babe in the parking lot and knew Zach had arrived. Hurrah! We caught up quickly and then dove right into all the details of what the next part of the trip will look like. My 'next chapter of Operation Penguin' is his '4x4: Phase C'. We're both having adventures in South America and it's great to combine efforts and do this road trip together. Sounds like we've got 3000km to cover in a couple of weeks. That's a lot of driving but I'm excited and I get to ride in Babe! Too much fun!

My first ride in Babe!

Bye bye BA

The next chapter of Operation Penguin is about to begin. From El Calafate north through Chile and at least as far as Mendoza with Captain Zach and 'Babe'. This wasn't planned before I left - it came up while we were in Lago Puelo several weeks ago. Obviously! I wouldn't have flown from Ushuaia to BA and back south to El Calafate within a week! But...I love that this opportunity presented itself and I could say "Okay!"

I had a nice morning with Guille before I had to head off to the airport. We hit a few cafes and ran some errands in the 'hood. With her mom and me both gone she's now on her own living in BA for the first time. I'm not worried about her though. She found a great yoga studio. She can go dancing with Margaret. She has many old school friends to catch up with, business meetings and...a date tomorrow! Hurrah!

It seems like I spend a lot of time at the Aeroparque Jorge Newbury these days! Serious deja-vu! With a bit of time to spare I took more notice of the airport this time. It's more modern than I first realized and is quite nice. If I had a mobile phone I could access Internet which people expect more and more these days. I can report back that I successfully made it through security with my shoes ON and a bottle of water in my bag. They didn't make me take out my liquids nor my iPad. It's a bit more chill here. I appreciate that! Of course, in that 'tranquilo' vein, planes are often delayed. Thank goodness today is sunny after Alé's adventure yesterday. (She took the overnight bus back to Bahía by the way.)

My plane was more or less on time. Given the weight of my camera bag, I was not keen to stand in a long line of people boarding. Someone has to be last after all. The second I set foot on the plane I was glad it was me! It was a freaking sauna! It was horrible and as soon as I sat down I remembered that I hate the Aerolineas planes!

Me...really boarding last!

My knees were banging on the back of the seat in front of me (yes... MY knees, short as I am) as I sat in my woefully uncomfortable seat. Only 3 1/4 hours to El Calafate. A few 'oooommm's seemed in order especially when the munchkin behind me started kicking the seat!

A nice view from the plane:

(Oddly enough, playing around with this photo on Snapseed and tweaking the presentation of the river channels reminded me of work!!!)

I'm not sure what I expected El Calafate to look like but what it does look like wasn't it! The airport is quite a ways out of town (I've never been to a brand new airport where the seats in the waiting area are still in the plastic they ship them in!) seemingly in the middle of nowhere. I got a seat on the bus into town for 38$ which was a great deal given that they dropped people off at their hotels!

The town seems small and in one word the feel of the place is 'rural'. The streets out here are all gravel and there is so much open space. I'm eager to see the town centre tomorrow but my general impression is that this is (more or less) an unspoiled gem!

I'm at the Design Suites Hotel 3km out of town on the lake. It is STUNNING and not overly expensive for what I'm getting! ($100 US/nt) I actually like it more than the one in Bariloche. I'm so pleased with my find that I had a second glass of wine and a dessert with dinner! ;o)

Rain rain go away!

I slept hard! I didn't hear Alé get up at 5 to leave for the airport. I was sorry to not to say goodbye but as fate would have it, I got a second chance.

Guille got a call a bit later that morning that her mom was stuck at the airport. No planes were flying that day. Why? As far as she could tell it was because of the rain. The rain? Oh boy! No comment!

Alé came back to the apartment by noon once she'd established that the flights really weren't going. She was so beat as she hadn't slept well the night before (well=at all!). Guille and I left her in peace and quiet to snooze as we headed out to Palermo for the afternoon.

At 14h Guille started her yoga class at Valle Tierra while I did my own version of going zen...on the massage table! An hour and a half for 285$, ~$70, a rate you can't even get with a Groupon deal. Score! And it was goooood too.

Guille had a massage right after mine. We swapped notes later. She said she LOVED the yoga class so much that she figured she needs to find a place to live nearby. She was also pretty jazzed about the massage too. What a great find!

We were going to take the bus home, then we thought maybe a cab and then the rain stopped and we opted to walk back. I had my sneakers on - the only shoes currently not giving me blisters - so I was quite happy to walk and gawk at the funky places in Palermo.

...or so we thought...

I put my head on my pillow at about 2:30AM with flashes of light dancing behind my eyelids. What a busy and fun day!

We worked our way over to the El Ateneo bookstore on Santa Fe for lunch. I was eager to show it to Guille and Ale since they both love bookstores. We had a great few hours there lunch there eating, relaxing, reading and catching up on email etc. It pleased me that it pleased them. I was happy to introduce them to this little gem.

We then bussed it as far as we could towards Puerto Madero and walked the rest of the way to the Buenos Aires Yacht Club....as you do!

Alejandra's partner, Oscar's eldest daughter, Maria was there with her boyfriend Fernando (get that?!). He's the one whose the member as this club still doesn't allow full membership to women or to Jewish people. WOW! What year is it?!?! Well, as guests we enjoyed our afternoon visit where we had a nice drink in the shade and then went to snoop in the clubhouse which is a city landmark.

I have a confession. While I've done remarkably well up until now...well...I couldn't help myself today. I went into my first South American branch of Starbucks! I have a love-hate relationship with that chain but it was exactly what I wanted right then and there. At least I could people-watch on the pier of Puerto Madero where all the cool kids were. That was a very enjoyable activity in a part of the city that is just SO MUCH NICER than the old dirty, garbage-strewn smelly streets I'd been seeing in the last few days. There are lots of new condo buildings, funky shops, restaurants and cafes, people roller blading, and 'seeing and being seen'! It was nice to see a different side of BA, especially since it's been on 'probation' in my books this week.

We didn't get back to the apartment until 20h45. We had made arrangements to meet Margaret at 21h30 at the nearby dance club, 'La Catedral', for a tango lesson. Both Guille and I were beat. I checked my email to see if Margaret was going to bail as a lazy night at home sounded so much more appealing at that point. No news meant she was still going, so we knew we had to go too. We convinced ourselves we'd only go for a little while...or so we thought...

Living away from everything, it was a treat to only have to walk 6 blocks to be somewhere so we had no excuse. We rallied our energies and off we went to the 21h30 tango lesson...or so we thought....

When we got there we were told 'No, no, tonight is folklore dancing.' Not sure if Margaret was already inside, we ventured in and discovered the coolest dancehall hiding in the upper floors of this old warehouse that looks like nothing from the outside. She was there alright so Guille went to pay the 25$ entrance and I went to the bar. We could at least visit and have a glass of wine in lieu of the class...or so we thought....

The instructor came by to all the tables to personally encourage us to join. There was this moment where we all looked at each other about to say 'thanks but no thanks' when the first words of reply were from Guille's mouth. The matter was decided with her trademark "Okay!".

I was initially sceptical but as a dancer from days gone by, I am interested by all forms of dancing. In terms of folk dancing, I've done the Quebecois gigue, Cape Breton step dancing, and even the Irish dancing (at the peak of the Riverdance craze!). As a tourist in Argentina, what better way to learn about the culture than learn one of their traditional folk dances, the chacarera? It was even more authentic in that Margaret and I were the only gringas.

After the first few steps I was hooked and a permanent grin was on my face for the next hour. The instructor taught us the steps as a group and then had us stand in two lines, boys opposite from girls. Looking across at this line of men, I couldn't help but notice that it was a line of cool, young guys at a folk dancing lesson! Completely unexpected and very cool. I seriously doubt that would happen back in Canada!!!

After the lesson it became an open dance and groups of people showed up to dance to the live bands. I was mesmerised watching them all. Just as I think Margaret and I were ready to call it a night, the band called up the pretty blonde to come and dance with one of the locals. Guille handled it like a pro convincing everyone from the lesson to get up and do the group dance we'd learned.

We made some new friends with Hernan, Lucas and Sergio, who was my first partner in the class. I noticed his great smile and good sense of humour and was so pleased that he took an interest in Guille. I played the part of wing-chick well and I'm hoping he contacts her again. Stay tuned!!! ;o)