October 24, 2013

El Calafate leaves very little to do outside of its famed glacial attractions. There were your standard tourist offerings of guided tours on horseback or zip-lining through the valley but none of these peaked our interest or seemed worthwhile which totally worked in our favor. We were exhausted, partialy crippled, and had plans for another 50k of hiking in the next 2 days. So with that, we took an extra day to prop ourselves up on the couch with some cold cervezas, think about upgrading our gear to include a tent and sleeping bags, and zone out to the reggae on repeat at the hostel.

We did manage to break ourselves away from the couch for an hour to go down to the boardwalks that perimeter Lago Argentina. Unbeknownst to us this was actually a birdwatching route and it was evident very quickly that we are not the birdwatching type. Total snooze. I do, however, think it was worth the trip to see the flamingos in flight. That was pretty spectacular.

Within the hour we were back to the couch and the cervezas and enjoying the company of the other hostel guests. We traded some travel tips, watched the sun go down, and finished the night with an incredible asado hosted by the hostel complete with two huge patagonian lamb legs, chorizo, chicken, bife, and mucho vino. A job well done by the hostel and a meal thoroughly enjoyed by the guests.

*Tips for the travelers: We stayed at Nakel Yenu. They had a really wonderful and helpful staff, great front porch, and the asado was top notch ($100 pesos, all inclusive).