Patagonia - El Calafate Desert

Thursday 26th January 2012

We enjoyed our time in  El Calafate, it’s a fun town, as previously described. We recommend anyone thinking of visiting South America to include it in their itinerary

Our hotel, Miramar del Lago, with views across Lake Argentina, had a very good restaurant so as most nights we came home pretty exhausted, we ate there, but on one night we ventured forth to the recommended best parilla for some fine chunks of meat cooked on the asado.

We also found a good local pub, with splendid tapas and great music videos, but were perplexed to be alone there at 8.30/9 at night – seems none of the ‘in’ crowd appear till 11 at the earliest and it really kicks off around 1am – could account for the name!

One of the more curious sights was the lines of people queuing for petrol morning noon and nights.  We’ve been given many explanations for this, essentially there just

isn’t enough to go round despite huge amounts of production within Argentina, so essentially the Government is to blame – what’s new? Ask Tinnie if you want more detail. Good photo though, isn’t it?!

The third day, we planned to join a 7k hike in a fascinating area just south of Lake Viedma, about 80K north of Calafate. We are promised dinosaur bones, petrified wood and astonishing rock formations – and we were not disappointed. We met up with a French group at La Leona, a wonderful old roadhouse full of history and characters that reminded us of several similar places that dot the remoter parts of Oz. The empanadas were excellent, and we enjoyed watching our driver, Ernesto, a star at tossing a small brass ring on a piece of string onto a hook – he could do it backwards!!

This is the entrance to the privately-owned land that contains the extraordinary area we were to trek around – note the locked gate, to keep out uninvited tour groups - what the pic doesn’t show is the deep ditch either side!

A few kilometers later:

Not visible above is the furious dry wind that blew that day – and most days apparently! In her fine book, Bad Times in Buenos Aires, - a must-read for anyone coming to Argentina, Miranda France writes: “Patagonia was famous for nothing so much as its wind. Laurence Durrell, who otherwise loathed his time working for the British Council in Argentina, was haunted by it  ...  Native Patagonians were fond of attributing sirens’ powers to their wind. It could permanently damage you, they hinted. It could stay with you forever.”

It also brings you to your knees when 100K gusts blow across your foredeck.

But what a spectacle it is… well worth the battle

The area is rich with history, geology, fossils, prehistoric remains, petrified wood galore, and about 50 K away, the almost complete skeleton of the largest dinosaur ever found was unearthed a few years ago.  Notwithstanding that, the government have refused an offer to buy it for the nation and investigate it properly, so the owner just has an arrangement with a local guide – somehow it seems unseemly to have it all so unprotected; we shouldn’t be allowed to tromp as we wish through all these amazing relics – but oh, what fun it is!

You’ll have to take my word for it that in that shadow there is a big dinosaur bone, but I cannot find it to blow up! Also, those two small dark bits on left of the green mossy stuff are also bits of a dino bone. Not sure if the right hand pic shows dino bone or`petrified wood!

This is  a huge trunk, now solid stone – they were everywhere, in all colours, depending on the mineral it absorbed. Amazing feeling to sit on a piece of history millions of years old.

We finished with a steep uphill in the lee, but all managed to struggle through the strong gusts and dust that met us at the top, to make it back to the cars, full of grit and memories we’ll never forget of an extraordinary part of the world with such extremes of interest and so much more to explore…..another time.