Buenos Aires to Patagonia

The Trip to Patagonia Finally Begins...
After our low-impact introduction to Argentina, we traveled to the Big City (Buenos Aires, 13 million) with Señor Lopez, a cab driver we hired through the helpful Draghi family.  The four of us paid a whopping $65 for the 80-mile thrill ride from the B&B to our hotel. Although he spoke no English and we understood limited Spanish, he gave us a running commentary as we careened through traffic on Avenida 9th of Julio, the widest street in the world. We met up with our group, and began the trip in earnest.

The group consists of 23 of us and Nelson, our leader. We had arranged this group with Eric and Debbie whom we met on our Peru trip. Between the four of us and Gail, we managed to get 20 travelers; Jim Holubka, Chris and Gary, Bill and Betsy, Lenore and Bill, Tina and Rory, Lynn and Barry, Don and Margie, and John and Susan. Nancy, Mary, and Bill also joined in, not knowing that the rest of us were connected. What good sports! Everyone was excited to be here and friendly, so we were off to a good start. Our trip leader, Nelson, is an open, funny, skilled guide. He set the stage for "Learning and Discovery", OAT's favorite catchphrase, and for a positive group experience.

Michigan Mafia (left) and the     Group Shot near Calafate

We spent two days seeing city sights, eating red meat and ice cream, and sweating profusely (like a Nixon appointee on the witness stand!) as Nelson ushered us around town. The city is very big and VERY European in appearance. Peru and Ecuador were populated by people who blended European with indigenous ancestry, and we expected to see the same in Argentina. Not the case. The indigenous population here was wiped out,quickly, and with Argentina devoid of both riches to plunder and people to enslave, the Spanish lost interest for a few hundred years. Had Spain taken an early interest and preserved a few Indians for slave labor, this place would be Mexico.  It is not. So Argentina was populated by European immigrants, mostly in the 19^th Century. Seventy percent of the people here are of Italian ancestry, with Spanish running a close second. Pasta and pizza are as common as steak in the restaurants. Who knew? I guess we could have figured it out if we had paid closer attention to the travel information Overseas Adventure Travel sent us. It isn't the first time we've been a little lazy with our research.

The people here are very open and willing to share their ideas and opinions. Elena, our hostess for a home-hosted dinner, dissed President Christina and talked very frankly about the political turmoil and it's effect on daily life. People who want to buy a home must do so with American dollars, and must pay the full price in cash. Mortgages do not exist. They also distrust banks for very real reasons, so they must save this money in safe deposit boxes or at home. Salaries are low, so it's hard to imagine how anyone manages to buy a home here.

We Were There!!

After this brief intro to Buenos Aires, our group flew to Calafate, Argentina, to begin exploring Patagonia. This was the real meat of our trip, and it was a real challenge to prepare for it. Our instructions suggested strongly that we bring waterproof hiking boots, hiking poles, warm clothing, waterproof pants and jackets, waterproof gloves and long johns. They say that you can experience all four seasons in one day in Patagonia, and some of us want to be comfortable. Our problem was that after the Patagonia experience we were heading for the near-tropical beaches of northern Uruguay. Consequently, packing for this trip in a back-pack was a bitch.

Calafate’s reason for being is that it is the gateway to the magnificent glaciers.  Twenty years ago it had a local population of a few hundred.  The sheep ranches in the neighborhood ran to millions of acres.  Now it is tarted up like Banff ; it has a permanent population of over 20,000, and a transient nightly tourist population of 6800.  Like Banff, lots of people walking around in fashionable hiking clothes who look like they haven’t climbed anything more arduous than the stairs to the second floor at the REI outfitters store.  Kind of like us.

But the Glaciers!! We headed to Los Glaciares National Park (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) to hike and see the Perito Moreno Glacier. 

Perito Moreno Glacier

On the way we stopped whenever something interesting caught our eye. Examples? A fox chasing a hare up a hill (the hare got away); a female gaucha on her horse, looking for a lost cow (she was Swiss, the gaucha, not the cow); condors, or any other large animal. The glaciers in this area are part of the largest continental ice after Antarctica, and they are spectacular. We saw the glacier calving; sending chunks of ice the size of garbage trucks thundering into the pristine glacial lake below. It was a thrill!

Pagan Saint answered all our prayers!

We crossed the border into Chile the next day en route to Torres del Paine, a remote, beautiful national park. On the way, local guides shared vast quantities of information with us. We stopped at a shrine for a local folk hero, Gauchito Gil. Locals venerate him as a popular saint, and leave offerings of beer at his shrines. We wanted all the good fortune possible, so we stopped and left our offering for him. Why not? The Patagonian wind made our hike exhilarating. We saw a few condors and many guanacos, which are camel/llama-like animals that were uncooperative with our attempts at photography.  The next day, we visited another area of the park, where we hiked in very different terrain.  We hiked over a very swingy suspension bridge (a maximum of six people at a time please!), through forest, and over the gravel terminal moraine of the glacier before we headed uphill. The view made the work worthwhile, as we hope you can tell from our photos.

Single guanaco lookout protects herds from pumas

NEXT POST…Cruise through the Straits of Magellan