Patagonia

After just 2 nights in Buenos Aires we caught an internal flight to the small town of El Calafate in Argentinian Patagonia. It sits in a windswept, bleak location on the southern shore of Lago Argentina.

Not long ago this was a very small village serving a pretty large area consisting mostly of Estancias. However in the last 20 years the population has mushroomed, driven almost exclusively by tourism. The main attraction is the Perito Moreno glacier (pictures below).

On our first full day we visited one of the Estancias, names Nipebo after the first two letters of the names of the original settlers' daughters (I forget what the names were, so lets call them Nikki, Petunia and Bosie ;-) ). The ranch was located in a beuatiful location surrounded by Patagonian hills and with a view across towards the glacier national park. After a horse ride around the ranch, we saw some traditional method sheep shearing and then settled down to a spectacular Asado with delicious lamb and accompaniment... (I can still taste it!)




Perito Moreno Glacier

This enormous hunk of ice moves slowly back and forth all year, too slow for the naked eye, but you certainly can hear the movement. While we wer there the creaks and groans were audible, but more impressive was the sight and sound of large blocks of ice breaking away from the main body and crashing into the lake below. This was certainly one of the highlights of our trip...