Travel to El Calafate

 November 6

This morning we got ready to leave for our next destination, El Calafate. The drive is 4 1/2 hours without food or gas stops. The office of the campground won’t open until 9:15 so we went to explore another waterfall nearby.

After checkout we took off back through the park again on an hour of unpaved road. The landscape is wide open with mountains in the distance.

We have another border crossing today. Just prior to it we stopped in Cerro Castillo, a small town we had heard was interesting, but there was a lot of new construction and we couldn’t find out why it was a recommended stop. There was an old church that was neat from the outside.

We officially checked out of Chile drive another mile or so to the Argentina side of the crossing for our check in. In order to cross the border with a rental car we needed a special permit which is stamped by each country along with our passports.

In the middle of nowhere where two highways intersect we prepared to make a left turn and saw a man standing alone, in a puffy hiker jacket and a day pack on the side of the road. We waved his arms and looked desperate. We agreed we would stop and see if he needed a ride. He was very happy we stopped. We asked if he needed a ride he said yes we asked him where to and he said as far in the direction we were going. We told him we were going to El Calafate and he said that’s where he was trying to go also. Gilberto  is part of a travel group. He was on a bus for an overnight trip to Torres del Pains when he realized he did not have his passport with him. The tour guide said he could not cross the border and they dropped him off on the side of the road to try to get a ride back to El Calafate! Now we know why he looked so desperate. He had been looking for a ride for 2 hours.

We stopped for lunch at a café again is in the middle of nowhere here in Argentina. I got a “classic“ hamburger. It was too very thin beef patties a few slices of grilled lunch, meat style ham, and a fried egg. 

We dropped Gilberto off at his hotel. It was about five minutes from where we are staying. He got out of the car and as he was shutting the door realized he had left his gloves on the seat, he grabbed them. After our goodbyes, he headed towards his hotel. Alyssa looked on the floor of the backseat and saw his credit card. We called out to him. He came back and got his credit card, laughed and said he did not know why he was being so forgetful today. if we were to hang out with him more I think his trail name would be “Misplaced” or “forgotten”😂 We had some nice chats along the way he lives in Panama and works on a cruise ship. Half of his trip is with the tour group that left him on the side of the road. The other half is by himself. A few minutes later, we arrived at our hostel. The room is nice and the shower is hot. We just spent some relaxing downtime for a while.

We went into town for a late dinner. They had guanaco on the menu, that llama like Animal we have been seen in the wild everywhere along the highway. It actually was very good. It tasted like a shredded chuck roast. 

After dinner, we headed back to Airbnb took a little while as Google maps was not sending us to the right place. Luckily we found it after about 10 minutes of driving around.  A lot of the roads are dirt, but the views from the hills are amazing. Off to bed, sleep better than we did in a tent.