Bye bye argentina...

Encontrarse con Galicia en Buenoa Aires...

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De vuelta en Buenos Aires...

My journey is getting closer to its end. I am back in Buebos Aires, where I started. I will stay here for 3 nights, untill I leave on Tuesday to return home.
My plan here is not to do much of anything appart from a little walk here and there and mayb a bit of souvenir shopping... best way to spend the last few days of holiday!

Dinner

A mix of local smoked food... trout, boar and bambi...

Ushuaia centre

Not as cute as Calafate but with a much more striking natural scenary, Ushuaia constitutes the southernmost city of the world!

Navigation in the Beagle channel

The main activity of the day was going out in a boat through the Beagle channel. I had a bit of a scare as the day has been very windy and my planned boat ride was cancelled. Luckily they were able to transfer me to another one...
For almost 3 hours we sailed the waters of the 14 km wide channel seeing a few islands with seals and penguin-like birds and one of the main lighthouses.
It was freezing cold (3 degrees at the airport, imagine sailing in a boat) so I must confess I stayed mostly inside the cosy interior... I would say the best part is the view of the snowed capped mountains, still pertaining the Andes which in Tierra de Fuego run from east to west, at both sides of the channel.
The rows of half snowed mountains resembled a line of iced out deserts!!
Another beautiful sight to take with me...

Flying to Ushuaia

Today I fly to the last stop in my Patagonian journey. I insisted on a window sit this time and the sights from there were pretty good! A pitty that the lady decided to make me switch off the mobile (in flight mode!) As it was my only camera.  I missed the best part, the landing in Ushuaia with a breath taking view of the beagle channel sided by the last part of the Andes...

El calafate

Private tour in Calafate

Even if the initial plan was to join one of the regular tours of Perito Moreno from Puerto Natales (5 hours in 5 hours out!) there was no tour leaving this thursday and I ended up being picked up from el Calafates bus station by a private guide who took me on my own to see the glacier. The adventure didnt start that well as she was late and I was getting quite pissed of by the time she showed up. After that however, things picked up a lot as my guide, Adriana, ended up being the best yet in my trip. Lovely going and very knowledgeable she showed me around with quite a passion for the place...

Patagonian lamb

On the recommendation on my guide I went to have Patagonian lamb... delicious! !!

More on Perito Moreno

Perito Moreno glacier

One of the most amazing places on this earth (or THE most beautiful place on earth according to my guide) this is a place of real shocking beauty. One cannot help feeling tiny next to it and I could have spent hours and hours gazing at its enormity. It has around 80 km in width and it is one of the very few glaciers that is actually not shrinking. And not only its visual beauty but also the pleassure of the sudden shuzzzz noise notfying of a falling chunk of ice...

To Calafate

Today I had to move on from Puerto Natales towards the Argentinian side of the Andes in el Calafate, the gate to the Perito Moreno glacier. This meant a 5 hour bus ride crossing the border and across the typical arid Patagonia landscape... no wonder they need miles and miles of land for each sheep... poor things have to take a hike to find a shred of grass!

Lunch in the "estancia"

We had a lively lunch in an estancia. A farm at the side of the fiord. We had some lamb and some wine. On the way there I met an australian I had done the Paine tour with, a couple of gay americans and a chilean-new zealand couple. All and all quite a good mix of very hard core travellers. There was no place in the qorld these guys hadnt been in.

As an aside, the crew were nice enoygh to give us a pre-lunch glass of whiskey (???) With glacier ice kindly stolen by one of our fellow turist...