Stef and Matt

After we returned from Antarctica, we spent the morning in Ushuaia. We hung out with our friends Stacy, Helen, and Stuart, and – as a part of “Team Travel” – tried to accomplish two goals:

1. Ship our extra winter gear back to the US.
2. Help Stacy find a new rollable duffel bag that she could carry her gear in.

I am happy to say we successfully helped Stacy, but even though we walked around all of Ushuaia, we couldn’t ship our stuff back (DHL isn’t open on the weekends, and, even though the Correo Argentino office was completely staffed, the customs officer there told us he wasn’t working that day – no, I didn’t understand why he was there to tell us that he wasn’t working, either).

Then, we flew to El Calafate. We got in, and had the easiest transfer ever to our hostel – like, we got in the van, it drove us to our hostel, and we checked in. No negotiating, no addresses, no exorbitant fees, no spoilers – just easy.

El Calafate is best known for the Perito Moreno glacier (Perito Moreno is one of only a few international Latin American heroes; contrary to popular belief, it does not mean little brown dog). It’s really impressive – not at all like a little brown dog, in fact, and is probably the closest you can get to a glacier on land on the six populated continents (you can get closer on a ship, and in Antarctica – which of course we did). We spent an afternoon watching it, and enjoying the most(ly) quiet. It was quite fun, and I managed to snap a few photos during the day (funny how that happens, huh?). Check them out by clicking on this one:

We also managed to ship some of our gear back to the US. It usually takes a few months for it to arrive, so if we’re lucky, it will make it home before we do. We were really surprised, because it was so much easier AND less expensive than shipping from Ecuador (keep in mind, Quito is about 2500 miles closer to Philadelphia than El Calafate).

Finally, we got our bus tickets arranged to go to torres del Paine, an to el chalten. It was a busy 3 days, so I only have a couple of shots from around El Calafate… Enjoy!

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