To Grandmas House We GO!

After the concert we did little else in Buenos Aires but rest, eat, and do a little more sightseeing. Next we took an overnight bus to Puerto Madryn, Patagonia. We awoke the next morning, on the bus, to a land of nothing. Complete desert all around. The town looked ominous completely surrounded by, again, nothing. However, our expectations were of course exceeded as we were made privy to the beautiful animals on Peninsula Valdes, a UNESCO world heritage site. The whales, who come at this time to give birth and raise their young before moving back to the Antartic waters, were eveywhere. We took a boat trip out to see them and saw the very ¨weird¨(I think they meant rare)site of an albino baby whale. The huge mass of white below the surface of the water about 50 feet from the boat was extremely impressive. We also got about a foot away from some penguins (real photo posers they are), and about 50 feet away from some Elephant Seals. No surprise where their names came from as we had the chance to see a territorial male blow his trunk and honk away at a male who was getting a little to close to his girl.

After Puerto Madryn we took the long bus down to Rio Gallegos (pronounced Gha-shae-gos)and then a transfer to El Calafate. This town has the feeling of a ski village...without the skiing. The major attraction site is the Glacier Moreno. We instead spent the night at Grandmas house (a musty hotel complete with doilies, fake flowers, and the weird ´grandma´smell of dustballs and sweet freshener...I am not sure how we even found this place!) and took the 8am bus to El Chalten. With the slowest internet I have ever encountered I somehow managed to get the only hour when it is working. Here now we spent the afternoon taking a walk to the viewpoint to see the Fitz Roy mountain range. We managed to get here on the first clear sunny day this week and had the incredible opportunity to see the mountains at their best.

Tomorrow we have another 7am start to head off on a 4hour trek there and back. Small stuff for any other experienced trekkker....or even a fit person...pretty long for an unfit person like me. Must stay motivated!