GlogTrotters. adventure of a lifetime Married couple on a Round The World Trip

Patagonia

So it has been quite some time since the last entry.

Our first stop from Buenos Aires was the town of El Calafate in the province of Santa Cruz an area known as Patagonia. This very picturesque and expensive was a great place to visit. We followed the advice of Keren (my sister) to try to get the Glaciar Perito Moreno before 7:30 in the morning so we avoid paying. Yeah, if you get to the National Park before the guards do, YOU DON´T HAVE TO PAY the $60 (foreigners) or $20 (local) access fee! To do that we met three other people to share a car with. So woke up early and drove to the glaciar. It was quite the site. Even though it is not the biggest glaciar in the world it is said to be the one that advances the fastest (I believe I got that right, you can correct me otherwise). I even got to see a big junk of ice fall off which made a sound that lasted at lest 3-4 minutes... From there we drove to Lago Roca, a pretty lake, that you get there by driving on a gravel road.

After staying one night at a hostel we got a reply from a Couchsurfer in town. So we decided to join them at their place. It was really a great time. We meet Jose, Fernando, Matias and Esteban which were great host. There were 4 french people there too so it was a great party. We really enjoyed the drinking and all the asado!

We followed the advice of the french couple (Sebastian and Elody) and hitchhiked to El Chalten (our next stop). It was really a great experience. Yes, we were hitchhiking virgins! It only took us a couple of hours but a very nice woman took us on the 2 hour ride.

Gadi showing the proper way hitchhiking to El Chalten

El Chalten, another must see place for the avid hiker like ourselves! This is the gateway to the Mount Fitz Roy. Here we met some amazing people (Israelis of course, they are the most seen tourist in this area).

The first day rain like crazy so we stayed in our hostel. The next day was a great day to see all the way to the Fitz Roy. The hike is only 4 hour to the base of the mountain but it was quite intense at the last hour. At the top we got to see very beautiful glaciars and lagoons.

View of the Fitz Roy

Our last day in El Chalten proved to be an interesting one. It started very poorly but ended in a very high note. Our bus was planned to leave at 11:30 pm so we had planned to to take it easy in the hostel because we were a bit sore from the previous hike. Apparently, the hostel manager did not like the idea of us staying there so they order us to leave. After getting threatened by the manager and having the door shut in our faces we were left on the street, nowhere to go! We were pissed!

During our stay we befriended the owners and cook at one of the bar/restaurant called Aires Patagonicos. So we decided to go get some beers to cool off the fight with the hostel managers. We ended up staying there for about 11 hours. These people (Susana, Rodrigo and Mauricio) were the sweetest people we have met so far in this trip. They were so kind to let us use the restaurant kitchen to cook our own food. The israeli boys taught Rodrigo (the cook) how to prepare an Israeli dish called shakshuka. We ended up working as servers, dishwashers, hostesses, etc. Best wishes with the new restaurant.

Mauricio and Susana. THE BEST.

After 36 hours on a bus through the famous and un-paved Ruta 40 (Route 40) we got to Bariloche, the same city where my parents had their honeymoon. But enough of writing. We will tell you more another time.