Post by Ella. Technically, it’s blue, but once you find it, it’s a treasure. The Holy Grail. The Sube card. Your ticket to ride the buses in Buenos Aires, Bariloche, Mendoza.. A transport card, purchase the card for 2000 ARS (US $2) and then top it up with credit. And for some reason, it is…
Author: Ella
Moonlight over Lago Nahuel Huapi
Post by Ella I stepped out into the garden to take a peek at the stars, being the Southern hemisphere and all that. I shoulda studied up on these constellations. My iPhone camera wasn’t great with the stars but I did capture a bit of moonlight over the lake.
Blissful silence
Post by Ella. I haven’t said much about our accommodations. They’ve all been pretty good. In Buenos Aires, we had an apartment in Recoleta. Everything worked just fine. You really can’t get far from the noise but at least being on the 7th floor, the traffic sounds were muffled. But not the drunken singing in…
Back to Patagonia
Post by Ella We did a zig (Buenos Aires to El Calafate) then a zag (El Calafate to Còrdoba). Now we do another zig from Cordoba to Bariloche, which is back to Patagonia. See? That magical Calafate berry worked! This morning we had a fun ride to the airport with Pedro, our Uber driver. Again…
Rainy day walking
Post by Ella Amalfa, the beloved cartoon character. In Buenos Aires, there was a queue a block long just for the honor of a taking a pic of this 6 year old. Here in Córdoba, poor thing was alone in the rain. We stopped for coffee. This woman had been listening to a guy talking…
Rainy day activities
Post by Ella. What else? Go walking in the rain. Which was non-stop all day. Good thing someone invented umbrellas and rain jackets. Oh but also, why not stop in a museum or two for a respite. We stopped at the Museo Superior de Belles Artes Evita and Museo Metropolitano de Urbano Arte. The collections…
100 year old Ferris wheel
From the viewpoint in Parque Sarmiento, Córdoba.
Tommy Tour
Post by Ella We headed over to San Martin Plaza late in the morning to meet up with the guy holding a red umbrella, sporting a head set and top hat, and making bendy movements with his knees as if he were about to cha cha cha. This was Tommy Tour (aka who knows?) who…
Córdoba, and not the one in Spain
Post by Ella. Travel day. We flew from rustic Patagonia to the bustling city of Córdoba. A speedster taxi ride from the airport got us right back into city mode. The cab driver zipped along, cornering and darting like he was on a race track. We arrived in the city in record time. Our exuberant…
Birding at Laguna Nimez
Post by Ella. A 20 minute walk from the center of El Calafate gets you to a lagoon that borders on Lake Argentina. We walked into a small shack that was the entrance. The care taker, a young guy, was sitting with some buddies around a wood burning stove having a raucous time. The entrance fee…
Calafate, the magical berry
Post by Ella. The Calafate plant is in the family of the barberry. It’s said if you eat a Calafate berry, you will return to Patagonia. Challenge accepted. What better place to find this magical berry than Acuarela, an artisanal ice cream shop in El Calafate on the main drag, Avenida Libertador. The closest I can…
Todos glaciares
Perito Moreno is THE glacier for the tourist draw. Then there are all the others. Monday we went on a day tour involving many hours on a catamaran to see the Upsala and Speghazzini glaciers on Lake Argentina. We were transported to Puerto Bandera in a small van and then embarked on the boat. More…
Perito Moreno glacier (aka tons of frozen fresh water) continued
Post by Ella I think when we get to Cordoba on Wednesday, we will have more reliable internet. For now, in El Calafate, downloading photos is awfully slow. So, this will be in bits and pieces. As we twisted our way towards the glacier on the narrow road, our driver, Nicklaus, stopped once to point…
Tons of frozen water
Post by Ella Here are a few facts. The Perito Moreno Glacier is 250 km2 (97 sq mi), 30 km (19 mi) in length, and is one of 48 glaciers fed by the Southern Patagonian Ice Field located in the Andes. This ice field is the world’s third largest reserve of fresh water. Up until recently it was holding its own,…
Next stop: Patagonia
Patagonia is the southernmost region of Argentina. The jumping off point for those making the Antarctic expedition. El Calafate is our destination. From here we will take a couple of day trips for some up close glacier explorations. From the balmy, big, bustling city to the little town in the cold desert (40° here right…