Tuesday, February 2, 2016, Laguna Nimez, WRTD 25
Our first full day in El Calafate was laid back. We slept late, ate breakfast in the South BNB resto downstairs from our room, tied up our hiking boots and set out for the downtown area to explore and then towards Lake Argentino and the Laguna Nimez a bird preserve where numerous species of birds nest and summer here, including flocks of pink flamingos.
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| Ibis |
We have been to numerous bird preserves, and this was by far the most beautiful and active. El Calafate is the recipient of federal funds from oil drilling and love by one of Argentinas presidents to build a beautiful infrastructure for tourists, broad streets, underground utilities, parks, malacon (waterfront walk way), and investment in environmental protection and an encouragement for international investors. Tourism here has increased from 35,000 to over 400,000 people per year. Glacier viewing and exploration is of course the primary reason people come here.
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| Night Falls on El Calafate |
Wednesday, February 3, 2016, Gauchos We are Not, WRTD 26
We decided to exercise the rental car today and headed toward the Pietro Moreno Glacier, not to go all the way today, but to visit a cattle/sheep ranch and to go horseback riding on the Pampas. Gauchos we are not, but we had a spectacular morning riding along the Moreno Glacier melt lake.
Along the way to the Rio Mitre Ranch, we found a geocache at Elephant Rocks, a large formation that looked like a stand of facing elephants.
The turn off from the main road was washboard gravel for a couple of miles until we reached the ranch.
Today, Estephan's brother operates the cattle ranch. Estephan operates the restaurant and horseback riding. Martin and Tally were our guides. They are students working at the ranch for the summer.
We were introduced to our horses, both old and slow by our request.
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| Tally helps me mount |
The saddles were not western with saddle horns and were covered with thick lambs wool. It seemed to me they had very short stirups that were chest height for me. Even when lowered, the stirups were above my belly button and while my foot may have reached that high, without the saddle horn to hang on and pull my self up and over, I needed some assistance! Fortunately, a large flat boulder was a great platform.
Once we were mounted, we were on our way for an hour ride. The cattle stood up, and moved out the way often running ahead of us as we followed in their dust and their mooing.
ranch horses,
and meandering around the edges of the glacier melt.
Wonderful.
When we returned from our ride, the Patagonia lamb was on the grill,
After lunch, we tried the Argentine drink of matea, like tea, but quite bitter. It looks like pond scum floating in the water (tastes like it too), and one must drink it through a filtered straw. We are not fans of this drink.
While we visited with Estephan, he shared with us his family history, and the artifacts his family had collected from their land over the years, including a fossilized dinosaur egg,
and a dinosaur bone fashioned as a bola by early indigenous people. We couldn't have had a better morning!
On our return to El Calafate, we spent a couple of interesting hours at the Glaciarium, a museum dedicated to glaciology, and once again walked along the lake ponds fronting the lake enjoying the bird life.
Tomorrow, we are taking a desert tour to the "Bad Lands" by the Rio Leona.
All is Well With the Worrall Travel Rs in El Calafate, Argentina
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