E Calafate, Argentina - Sheep, Glaciers, and Barbeque

El Calafate, Argentina Slide Show

We had an uneventful border crossing from Chile into Argentina and ended up in El Calafate. Crossing the border did not change the scenery as Chile and Argentina border each other in Patagonia. The main reason that most visitors come to El Calafate is to visit the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares and the Perito Moreno Glacier in particular.
After staying in El Calafate for a few nights, we found out that there is much more to the town than the glaciers. The town reminded us of Pucon, Chile with its nice downtown area and beautiful countryside with ranches, lakes, and mountains. We stayed at the nicest youth hostel, Hostal del Glaciar Libertador that we have stayed at on this trip. Noah had a bunk bed set to himself, so he was happy.
We took a full day trip to the National Park. Along the way, we stopped at a 25,000 sheep ranch. The sheep were friendly enough to let us pet and hold them. Actually, you don't want to hold them too long as they don't smell very good. We also came across flamingos, horses, cows, condors, and on rare occasions, other humans. One of the humans that we met was a woman who is French, lived in Edina, MN for 7 years and then Belgium and is now studying in Argentina. Like everyone else on our van but us, she spoke at least 3 languages fluently.
The highlight was our visit to the Perito Moreno Glacier. It is not only impressive in size, but also color and sound. The parts of the glacier that appear white are due to the air bubbles that allow long wavelengths of light to be absorbed. In the areas of the glacier that are more compacted due to the weight on the top pushing ice particles together, blue light (short wavelengths) are transmitted. The periodic booming sounds come from large ice chunks that fall off the glacier and crash into Lake Argentina, the largest lake in Argentina. Okay, there is your lesson for the day.
At the end of a long day sightseeing, it was time to try out the barbeque that the Argentineans are famous for. Many restaurants have beef and lamb seasoned perfectly slow cooking over open fire pits. I had an all you can eat buffet smorgasbord one night and Jennifer and I had filets that were every bit as good as Manny's in Minneapolis. After all the bread and cheese over the last 5 weeks, it was great to sit down to a wonderful steak and a great glass of Argentinean wine.
To see a slide show of El Calafate, Argentina, click on the following link ==> El Calafate, Argentina Slide Show.