Saturday, March 4, 2023

This morning, it was time to say good-bye to El Chalten. Wouldn’t you know that the clouds were dissipating and the sun beginning to shine? Part of me wished for one more day in El Chalten so we could experience a good weather day for hiking, but mostly I was ready to move onto somewhere new. And, ready for our cell phones to work properly again! Today was a long travel day back to the airport in El Calafate, then a three-hour flight to Buenos Aires.

Andi and I have commented over and again how packing lightly for this trip has simplified traveling. It didn’t take me much time at all this morning to re-pack our backpacks and toiletries. This apartment was the 9th place we’ve stayed in the past 27 days (not counting the hotel stay in Minneapolis before we left for Argentina). That’s a lot of moving around, and would have been a big pain if we had a lot of stuff with us.

On our way out of town, Andi wanted to stop at Lo de Haydee Bakery again to grab a coffee. Argentina really isn’t a “to-go” culture when it comes to coffee, so all four of us went inside the cafe for coffee and a bite to eat. I wasn’t particularly hungry this morning, so Andi and the kids ordered pastries, scrambled eggs, and toast. Tory was excited that the cafe served hot chocolate with marshmallows!

As we drove out of town after breakfast, we saw lots of visitors standing alongside the road with their cell phones pointed toward the Fitz Roy Mountain. Sure enough, the clouds had parted enough to see the mighty mountain in all its glory. Even though there were still clouds in the sky, the view of the mountain was pretty epic. We pulled over at a mirador lookout on the edge of town to take a picture & Andi flew his drone.

As we continued driving along the highway away from town, the mountain continued to light up behind us. At one point, Andi stopped the car and took a few more pictures. If the mountain looks this majestic still hidden behind clouds, I can only imagine what it looks like on a clear day. Wow!

We continued driving along Route 23 from El Chalten to El Calafate. My number one goal on this drive was to get a good picture of a guanaco. Guanacos are the South American relative of the llama, and we saw tons of them on our drive along this route a few days ago. Andi, being the considerate husband he is, granted my wish by stopping the car every time we saw a pack of guanacos on the side of the road. The animals were hard to photograph because they’d run away as soon as our car slowed down beside them, but we did get a few photos and videos.

We also saw a Patagonian fox during our drive. The fox’s behavior was the opposite of the guanacos; he wasn’t scared of us at all! Andi parked our car on the side of the road and watched the fox for several minutes. He calmly stared back at the four of us sitting in our car, and eventually laid down in the dirt beside the highway. I’ve never seen a fox behave so socially.

It was a boring, three-hour drive back to El Calafate with nothing to keep our interest but sporadic wildlife sightings. Tory and Aden kept themselves occupied playing the Nintendo Switch in the backseat. Andi and I considered stopping by the petrified forest half-way near La Leona, but when it came time to stop we decided to keep driving.

As we reached El Calafate, I suggested Andi fly the drone since the wind wasn’t as strong today. Lago Argentino is the biggest freshwater lake in Argentina and the third largest lake in South America. It’s turquoise-blue waters are such a sharp contrast against the brown desert landscape — it’s breathtaking! The lake’s milky color is from glacial sediment in the water. With the drone, the cloudiness of the water was very evident.

Andi and I decided to have a nice lunch in El Calafate before it was time to check in for our flight. We picked a traditional Argentinian parilla (grill) restaurant off the beaten path in town. At 12:30pm, we were the only customers in the restaurant. Andi ordered grilled chicken breast, a “complete” salad with carrots, tomato, beets, peas, and hard boiled eggs, an order of French fries, and two sausages for us all to share.

At the airport, we returned “Callie” (our rental car) and had plenty of time left to check in and make our way through security. The internet in every Argentinian airport is free and relatively fast, so Tory asked to use the 20 minutes before our flight to FaceTime her best friend back home.

We flew Aerolíneas Argentinas again, which is nice because they are a Delta partner and honor our Sky Priority status. Flight time to Buenos Aires was three hours, and it was an easy flight there. One quirk that cracks us up about this airline is that all the passengers erupt into applause when the plane lands on the tarmac. The first time we heard the plane passengers do this, we wondered, “was there any hesitation the plane wasn’t going to land safely? Are you all clapping because you’re relieved?” Tory added, “Wouldn’t it be funny if an Argentinian flew on a flight in the United States and was the only person to start clapping after the plane landed?” I guess that’s a custom we do not practice in the United States. Anyway, it makes us smile every time.

Andi arranged for a driver named Angel to pick us up at the Buenos Aires airport. It took us about 45 minutes to drive to our airbnb in the Palermo Soho neighborhood of the city.

We are not “big city” people by any means, but it’s always a novelty to stay in places like this for a few days at a time. Our condo unit is on the 8th floor of the building, and Aden couldn’t get enough of the nighttime view from our balcony.

Tory’s favorite part of the apartment is a real sofa — one that’s doesn’t double as her bed!

The apartment Andi rented for us this week is a two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit. It’s very nice! The building also has a shared pool, fitness room, and traditional Argentinian parilla (grill) area to use.

My least favorite part of travel days are getting to the new place and not having any food. We were exhausted from traveling all day, but needed to find dinner. I suggested we order food delivery from Pedidos-Ya (we used this company in Mendoza and Bariloche), but Andi thought it would be easier to go out and get something. There are a ton of restaurants, cafes, and kioskos near our apartment.

Tory and Aden didn’t want to leave again, so Andi and I said we’d go out, grab some food, and bring it back. We picked the first restaurant we saw called Baru & ordered a pulled pork arepa, chicken & carne empanadas, and chicken skewers. There’s also a helado shop next to our condo building, so we purchased a half kilo of ice cream to take back home (vanilla, menta granizada, and chocolate flavors). It was 11:30pm by the time we ate dinner — travel days are long.

We’re excited to discover more of Buenos Aires this week!