Buenos Aires and El Calafate

Halloween in El Calafate

Our apartment, on the 8th floor, in Palermo, a central and safe part of this huge city, has a washer! We don’t have to disinfect water! I have wolfed down our basic home made veggie stir fries (the first time we have cooked since leaving home). I also totally enjoy my quinoa with added seeds etc. for breakfast (couldn’t find oatmeal the first several days, despite Argentina exporting grains..). We have 2 floors, 1.5 baths, Craig has a couch to stretch out on, no noise from the neighbors, a large balcony - this is just what we wanted, and needed. And we have enjoyed our first bottles of wine since home - Malbec.

Link to Buenos Aires & El Calafate pictures

Saturnalia - an ancient Roman festival. No idea what the connection to Buenos Aires is.

We have walked miles, and think at least the parts of the city we have seen are quite livable and nice. Lots of trees and parks; people everywhere, but not as crowded as NYC. We had gorgeous sunshine the first few days; unfortunately the rainy day was Monday when many museums are closed.
They elected a new President without any violence, and the people celebrating by driving through the city honking didn’t bother us at all.

Unfortunately there are homeless people, even sleeping on mattresses on the sidewalks, also in these nicer parts of the city. And people smoke - definitely more so than at home. Also young people - and this group sadly is increasing per google.
They like their dogs - all out for walks on leashes, and none roaming on their own. Many people even pick up after them. Clunky, low platform heels seem to be popular for women, but you see everything from spiky high heels to sneakers.

The Water Works!

Most of the streets are one way, and this made things much easier for us tourists. The drivers were polite, I only observed careful jay walking, and in many places the cyclists also had traffic lights. I don’t remember many bike helmets, but did see several motor cyclists wearing them.
Our taxi driver from the airport was a perfect example of a stereotypical speeding, aggressive and impatient cabbie... but the Uber driver who drove us back there later was stuck in typical morning rush hour traffic, and barely moved.

We saw many different types of buildings - new and old; high ones and also low ones; many elaborate old buildings which have been maintained, and there was construction in many places throughout. We didn’t understand the plaques by all the many statues we saw, but it seems like every general and admiral gets a statue.
They have small ‘corner stores’ on almost every block, and many of them sell veggies and/or fruit. Some stores sold reusable bags, but plastic is still popular. People picked their kids up from school on foot, and we saw many school groups on outings, and they have various types of ‘vests’ these little kids wear, presumably to make it easier to know who belongs to which group.

We were not impressed with the bread even in the bakeries in BA. Our first afternoon in El Calafate, the proprietor at a German bakery here, seemed to understand why when I commented on her wonderful, light, tasty whole grain bread. Even Craig approved.

We came to El Calafate because from here you can continue to Torres del Paine National Park in Chile. The main attraction near El Calafate is the huge Perito Moreno Glacier - part of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field. This is one of very few glaciers in the world which is not losing mass despite global warming - the experts are not sure why. It stretches from where we admired it, across the border into Chile; the average height above Lake Argentino is 74m (240’), and the terminus we could admire is 5 km wide. The Park Service has done an excellent job of creating a few km of walkways from which you get to see much more than I had expected.
We have never wanted to become ski mountaineers, and seeing the crevasses, the forces generated when huge chunks broke off, knowing the ice is many thousands of years old... it seems some things should be admired from a distance and not touched.

The town of El Calafate mostly seems to exist for the tourists who visit Los Glaciares National Park. It was interesting for us to see the well maintained, mostly new single family homes here, some large also by our standards. The town seems much wealthier than any small town we have seen in Ecuador or Peru.
Lake Argentino is a pretty turquoise when seen from a distance. Craig realized this is the furthest south we have ever been, but if all goes according to plan this record will be broken still before we come home.

‘Our Fellow Americans’ should be sad to hear that the very friendly ~25-year-old housekeeper at our apartment here was impressed we would walk the 1.5 miles to the bus station this morning. Not what she expected of Americanos and she wasn’t talking about our age. But then she herself thought it would be an ordeal, too.

Demonstrations continue in Chile, but the area we are headed to now, seems peaceful from what we have read. We have just arrived at what seems like a very nice hostel in Puerto Natales, and we have taken advantage of their kitchen and its supplies - including even decaf coffee for Craig. Everything seems normal in town and at the bus station, where we had no difficulty buying tickets for the bus we’ll take to Torres del Paine on Nov. 4.