Thursday, October 20, 2011

Day 101 & 102 : El Calafate

Everyone who visits El Calafate are here for one main attraction – Perito Moreno Glacier

There isn’t a lot more to do in this city as the town centre is rather small and compact.  Other than 1 main road with shops, restaurants and a casino, there isn’t a lot more the town has to offer.

The one other sight which I felt was worth visiting was the Lagoon Nimez Nature Reserve.  It is famed for bird watching and when I was there, I saw flamingos! 

Laguna NimezFlamingos!

You didn’t have to pay the entrance fee (ARS20.00) to visit the Nature Reserve, as you could actually see the lagoon with flamingos from the outside, but I decided to pay to get a slightly closer up view of the lagoon with flamingos as well as other birds. 

View of mountainMore flamingos!

One can also get a good view of the mountainous backdrop and nearby beach (which I personally felt wasn’t much of a beach!), and the turquoise coloured water in the sea.

Landscape

It was also a very pleasant walk around the reserve.  The only problem I had was that it was extremely windy and cold when I was there.  Even while wearing 2 layers of clothes and a jacket as well as gloves, I still felt very cold! 

The other possible activity that might be of interest would be taking a bus to El Chalten a few hours away and trek around some of the trails available.  Due to insufficient time I decided to skip it.

El Calafate is not a very cheap place to be though.  Food is on the slightly higher side and the National Park fee was one of the higher ones which I have seen. 

I guess I was lucky I managed to get a good deal on the hostel as I have heard other tourists paying more for other hostels nearby, which may not be as nice and cosy as mine!

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Day 169 - 170 : Flight back to Singapore

I left Stefano's house at 7.45am to catch the 8.07am train to the airport, which later required switching to an airport shuttle from T2 ...