Friday 29th Nov Around El Calafate

A slow start as I recovered from what appeared to be a dose of food poisoning. Decided we would drive about 100km north up along the' route40'  the Pan American Highway, and try to see if we could get a good view of Cerro Fitz Roy.
The picture of this iconic mountain appears in most promotions of Patagonia. A wild and wind swept area as the sign post warns. We were not lucky enough to see Fitzy without cloud but had a great day never the less. Stopped for coffee at a very old roadhouse, La Leona that is famous for their lemon meringue pie and that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid holed up there for about a month back in 1905.

First afternoon around El Calafate 27th Nov

After thankfully getting to El Calafate and our apartment we picked up our hire car and set off to explore. Feel we are really down in Patagonia now. A wild and wind swept place, wind had dropped to a gale as opposed to what it had been like the day before.
We set off towards one of the regions most famous destinations, Glaciar Perito Moreno. This glacier is one of only 2 advancing glaciers in South America. An awesome sight , about 30km long and reaching heights of 60mt with stunning shades of blue ice. My photos certainly don't do it justice. ( there is a limit after all with a camera in a tablet)

Finally Arrived

Thursday 28th Nov
Up extra early (4am !) Taxi back to airport to make rendezvous with airline folk and to find out what the go was. Yes they had found a plane !! Yes El Calafate airport opened again !!Booked bags through again then waited,7am we began boarding and in the air by 7.30 .
10.45 we finally arrived to EC , a spontaneous round of applause as we landed.
Its windy ,very windy.
We have 4 days here, have hired a car for 2 days so will be off exploring.

Update

After hours of mucking about and waiting we were finally told at 20.30 to come back at 5am tomorrow morning and hopefully a flight at 7!
No help what so ever re getting a hotel so fortunately we had not thrown out the card from the Roco  hotel so we borrowed a phone from some other standard passengers ,rang &they had 2 rooms left ! Wait in the longest taxi queue I have ever seen,now finally 22.30 we are here! Time for bed.

Major Change of plans

Well here we sit, on a runway,not sure exactly where it is,Argentina somewhere. Very strong +100km winds prevented us landing in El Calafarte so a detour was made to find somewhere safe to land. At one point we were flying over the southern Atlantic ocean,then we turned back towards land.
An hour and a bit after we were to land at EC we made a bumpy landing in a what looks like a very remote place. We have been sitting here now for over an hour,latest news is that we will fly back to BA and wait until airport is opened again ( talk of a day or two!! ) As you can imagine there is a lot of hand waving and excited Latin gestures.
Outside is flat, dry, and generally windswept. Other planes appear to have been diverted here too, so I imagine soon there will be a general shortage of food and drink.

18.50 BA finally back in the big smoke,really never expected to be back here in a hurry.
Total confusion reigns, no one knows what is happening, will keep you updated

Back to Bariloche

Another gorgeous day, a easy 80km drive back to Bariloche, and to our hotel Monesterio ( nothing Spartan about it at all) from my lounge on the balcony I can look over the lake to the snow capped mountains in the distance. Appears to be a bit more snow than last Wednesday, certainly they has an unusually cold few days over the weekend (  -4° Sunday night !!)
The shrine like structure is not uncommon along the road sides.

Hike to beat all hikes

Bluebird sky, going to be great day for a hike. Plan was to drive out to the National Park of Los Arrayanes,( this park is within another National park Manuel Huapi ) leave the car,hike out to the point, 12km, then catch a boat back. This was all done without a hitch. What a fantastic walk,the photos do not do the place justice. A stiff climb for 1km to begin with then it was a easy walk from then on. Towards the end we walked through Myrtle forest,very pretty colouring on the trunks.

What every keen cyclist should have

On our way to start our walk today we met a couple of cyclists so thought it would be the ideal opportunity to ask about yesterdays bike ride we passed. Luckily they spoke a little English (would have been a very short conversation otherwise) Turns out there were over 300 competing in what they hope will become an annual event. Both keen cyclists with some serious gear on the back of the ute, the younger of the two hoping to get onto a professional team next year. To prove his dedication he showed me his tat,what could I say.

Sunday 24th Nov San Martin de los Andes to Villa la Angostura

A shorter drive today,120km, though 50 of that on dirt road work roads. The rain then snow certainly made for muddy conditions but at least we were not out riding in it like the few hundred mountain bikers who were racing in the opposite direction to San Martin. Our hotel for the next 2 nights has drop dead gorgeous view looking over yet another lake towards snow covered mountains.
A walk up to see a local lookout about 70min walk away saw us escorted by a collection of the local dogs, all very friendly towards us but very vocal towards each other.

Sat 23rd San Martin de los Andes

Woke to a beautiful day!  fantastic,so much to see. Drive up/out to Parque National Lanin, volcano to see, huge lake, more mountains, so off we set. A easy 50 km on sealed road ( apart from a bit of road work) then onto the dirt.
Huge clouds obscuring top of volcano, never mind let's drive on, oh dear is that rain, yep, sure is, where have the mountains gone? At least the rain has dampened down the road so there is not so much dust. Getting colder,getting windier, well we are in Patagonia aren't we. Some of us more prepared than others for sudden change in weather.
Think its time to head back to our apartment.

The day we ran out of adjectives

Our hire car was dropped off to us at our hotel in Bariloche at 10,  then we were off. Headed north and skirted around the top of the lake and then down a valley aiming towards San Martin de los Andes. Wow what a spectacular day,the photos really don't do credit to what we experienced. Lakes, moutains ,rivers, forests the list goes on. The 220km took us 6hours this was because of all the photo stops ( maybe the 120km of dirt roads had something to do with it too)

San Martin de los Andes a beautiful ski resort town lying next to yet another amazing lake.

Big City left behind

Early morning traffic through BA something to experience. The fact that lanes are marked seems to be completely immaterial.
A less than 3 hour flight to Bariloche has transported us to a different world. Mountains and lakes, snowy peaks in the distance. Booked into a great hotel then walk down to the lake for a late picnic lunch (4pm!!,) we must be adjusting finally to local time

City within a city

The Argentinians take cemeteries to another level. Cementerio de la Recoleta is one of the worlds greatest necropolises, opened in 1822. Lots of famous people rest here,Evita one of them. About the only way for ordinary folk to get into it now is alive on a tour or a self guided get lost option.

City of Art

Yet another amazing day in this fantastic city of Buenos Aires. Have walked many kms these past few days,every corner turned new experiences. The Argentinian people so kind and helpful, even sometimes without a shared language.
A great arvo spent at the Malba (museum of Latin american art)

Paseaperros

On our way to the museum of Decorative Arts we passed many dog walkers or ' paseaperros ' as they are called here. Never seen so many dogs before! Surprisingly there appeared to be little 'evidence' left behind .

Morning Smoko

A stop for coffee on our way to Museo NAC. de Arte Decorative. Smoko been taken to the next level!

Big Busy City

Wow what an amazing and beautiful city. Spent the day doing a 'hop on hop off' bus tour.Crowds were such that by the time we finally secured a place on the bus we were loath to give up our seat so we stayed on for the duration, almost 4 hours latter we staggered off and headed to the first bar we could find.
Maryanne and Wayne have been having there own special time learning more about the police systems here in BA. Mayanne had here phone pinched from her bag yesterday evening when we were strolling the markets, a trip to the police station, hours spent filings report,waiting for a translator etc. Meanwhile I skyped Telstra to have the phone cancelled. We have a lot of warnings about pickpockets here and had taken extra precautions but they are experts.

Buenos Aires 17thNov

Blue blue sky,beautiful day to arrive into BA.  Wow what a stunning city. Caught the metro into Mayo Plaza for an explore of the area.

Saturday 16th Nov Rubbish Bins

Silo bins have not hit the streets of Mendoza as yet, instead they have a great system of individually crafted stands where the rubbish is placed.

Friday 15th Trip to Salentein Winery

What a great day, hired a car and drove out to the well known Salentein Winery. OK it wasn't the most direct route (a spectacular lack of signposting and maps that lacked any detail) but we finally got there. Rewarded with a fantastic art gallery, great wine tour and tasting then an an amazing lunch with views to the Andes!!!! Then the drive back (120km) hitting Friday arvo traffic in downtown Mendoza!!! they have a very frustrating one way system that we had never really paid any attention to when on foot.