1/12-Made it to El Calafate!

Last night when I got up to pee, I could see the lights of Calafate in the distance. Seemed so close, but really still 54kms away. 

We woke up to a herd of horses and a small herd of guanacos passing by in the field, on their way to water. Also saw some horses up on the ridge. 

The five of us were on the road before 9:00. We were hoping to beat some of the wind. This was Ally and Alex’s last day of their tour. They fly home on Sunday from Calafate. 

In those trees was our campsite. 

The wind wasn’t too bad. We saw more guanacos. The following photos aren’t great, but here they are anyway. 

Guanaco in the road. 

Guanaco by the fence. 

Proof that guanacos can successfully jump fences. It’s interesting that we have not seen a single dead guanaco by the side of the road. They don’t seem to get hit by cars. All the dead ones have been hung up on the fences. 

We crossed the Rio La Leona again, then had a bit of a climb. Still not too bad though. After taking a break 18kms in, we reached the turn to head toward Calafate. Now the windows a different story. However, we had a pretty good pace line going. 

Alex, Ally, Markus, and Alex. 

We took a couple more breaks (one when we met a German, Robert). I didn’t take much in the way of photos as we were just trying to get to Calafate. It was a rollercoaster of ups and downs, and there was quite a bit of traffic. The great thing is that the drivers give us a lot of room. 

We arrived in Calafate. First order of business was some food/drink. We hadn’t stopped for lunch. Alex looked on his phone (him and Ally have phone service) for a coffee place. We rode to it, and had an awesome lunch. We did group photos in the cafe and outside with our bikes. 

We’ve really enjoyed Ally and Alex on these last two days of their tour. Who knows, maybe I’ll see them when they are in Oregon, or maybe I’ll go to Buenos Aíres??? In the meantime, we are meeting for dinner tonight. 

The three of us continued on to our accommodations. It’s a little bit out of the city proper, and up a beastly steep gravel hill, but the view is spectacular!

Lago Argentina. We have ridden nearly the whole way around the lake. 

My bed. 

The kitchen. 

We are here for 4 nights. Hoping to book a glacier tour for Sunday or Monday. 

It’s 2kms to where we are having dinner tonight. We will walk there, then take a taxi back. I’ll upload this post now as the WiFi is a little slow here.