Back to Argentina

So after the trekking we got an early bus back to Argentina and onwards to Calafate. We spent the first few days there trying to sort out a flight out of el Calafate to Bariloche. This proved difficult. Prior to arriving in Argentina we found that LADE did not have a website and a net search revealed that they did not like picking up the phone. The reality was not much different, we made a lot of trips to the LADE office to try and catch it open. On a whim I decided to check if they had a website, somehow it managed to appear. I tried to book a ticket once and it said there was no availability, then magically it worked the second time. I got an email confirming the flight.. Result!! Now to pay.. you would think that this was easy, however the 3 phone numbers given for central and local offices were not answered, so we had to trek back to the office in town to pay. Amazingly they had the booking so I paid and told Sarah to guard the print out with her life. We´d been told that flying with LADE was quite an experience and we were happy we´d avoid the 72 hour bus journey over unpaved roads on the notorious Route 40.

Next day we went out to the glacier and spent a day trekking in crampons on the ice. The glacier itself is massive and we saw huge chunks of ice carving off and crashing into the water. Walking in crampons took a bit of getting used to but was well worth it for the views of ice caves, big wells of turquoise water and random lakes.

Back in Calafate we didn´t really do much as it was really expensive compared to the rest of Argentina; so we only really did a bit of cycling and lots of eating. We had a message from the airline that the flight would be delayed by three hours and when we got to the airport unfortunately discovered that it had been delayed by another 2. The whole time we could see the perfect 20mph plus clean wind, if only we´d had our kitesuring kit and a a very very thick wetsuit!

The flight itself was cool, a kind of executive jet with a retro 60s interior. It was pretty fast and we had great views of the barren desolate wasteland below. Seriously we flew for hours and didn´t even see a town, just miles of patagonian tundra with the odd lake thrown in. On our descent to Bariloche we could see mountains and lakes in the evening sunshine. The LADE flight made up for the booking stress...

Once we got to the hostel we foraged for some light food at the local petrol station and then had a good game of poker with a very good looking argentine (male) who worked at the hostel. Unfortunately we lost a few pesos.

Following day we were all set to go cycling round the circuito chico when we found a kite shop. After chatting to the guys in the shop we decided to ditch the bikes and hire some kit instead. Luckily the wind gods we smiling on us for once and although the locals were complaining about the direction and it being gusty (it really wasn´t) we both had a great session. It´s so nice kiting on a lake, such clean fresh water you don´t even have to wash your hair afterwards. The sunset was really cool and the guys who owned the shop even gave us a lift back to Bariloche where we headed out for a really bad mexican with some English guys we´d met on the kite trip.

The next day it rained!!!!! so we didn´t do much except sleep, go on the internet. We discovered the joys of Skype and cheap international calls and asked very nicely if Steve´s mum could send us our kite kit to BA. In the evening we went out boozing with the guys at the hostel. We woke up early and dragged ourselves out of bed to go rafting.

The minibus ride to the upriver launch gave us a chance to sleep off our hangovers a bit more as we headed out to the Rio Manso. After being kitted out we got in the raft and had a lesson in how to paddle. the river was pretty low so the rapids really weren´t very scary. Pretty much perfect for a hangover. The scenery was amazing and the asado that followed was even more perfect for my hangover.