J.Tiew travels

The past 36 hours had brought a whirlwind of uncertainty. It's only by God's grace that we are now safe and sound in Puerto Iguassu, Missiones, Argentina.

Rewind back to yesterday. It is now Thursday at 8am in El Calafate. After being told to come back to the hostel reception at 9am with my flight details for the airport transfer reservation, I went away to pack my bags and reply some emails. I had planned to leave for the aiport at 10am but was surprised to be informed that my flight had now been brought forward 20 minutes from my original 11.43am departure time.

It was a mad rush gobbling down my breakfast, booking the transfer, and double checking that I hadn't left anything behind as the van was going to arrive in 15 minutes. Well, what do ya know - it arrived 20 minutes after the scheduled time. More waiting ensued as the van went on to pick up other passengers enroute to the airport but I finally made it there at 10.15am. I threw my head back in disbelief when I saw the check-in line which was almost as long as the width of the Perito Moreno glacier. Almost.

45 minutes later and I'm finally at the front of the line. At least I still had 20 minutes before my flight disembarks.
Gate 3, boarding at 12.30pm.
Wait a minute, isn't my flight suppose to be at 11.20am?
Oh yes, it has been delayed.
All that without a hint of an apology. The staff at the Aerolineas Argentina counter just uttered those words nonchalantly as if delays are the norm.

All the way behind the line stood Daniel. His flight was scheduled for 12.30pm so he took the later transfer. But he was plagued with a different problem - his flight was overbooked. The next flight available was at 3pm with a duration of 3 hours but this meant that we would not be able to catch the bus leaving for Puerto Iguassu at 7pm from Buenos Aires. I was praying har that he would somehow get onto my flight on standby but the Lord was good as his persistent loitering around the checkin counter granted him a business class seat upgrade on his original flight.

Once we arrived at the airport in Buenos Aires, we were still praying hard for our luggage to arrive. Daniel had his bag delayed for a few hours on the way to El Calafate as a standby passenger. Thank God it arrived without any glitches and soon we made our way to Retiro Bus Station.

On arrival we were dumbfounded by the amount of bus companies offering trips to anywhere you desire in and around Argentina. As we walked on passing by more than 90 different bus operators in search for the one we booked with, we concluded that the best way to travel has got to be via long distance coaches. Upon exchange of the vouchers we had for valid tickets, we were told to head down to platform 37 to 55 for boarding. That is pretty open ended if you ask me. The electronic notice board showed 2 buses leaving for Puerto Iguassu but none of which are of our bus company Via Bariloche.

Finally when we saw a familiar green-coloured bus headed to Puerto Iguassu sporting Via Bariloche's logo, we were told that the ticket was not for that bus. By now it was already 6.55pm and we weren't too sure what to make of the situation. A few minutes later, another similar bus heading to Puerto Iguassu as well pulled up to adjacent platform. Hallelujah!

At least the cama ejecutivo (first class bed) was well worth its price with comfortable leather seats that recline almost flat. The nice hot dinner and breakfast made the 16 hour overnight journey not so bad after all. Buen viaje!

We'll put on the crampons for you because we need to reguate them, exclaimed our tour guide as I fiddled around with the spiky metal sole add-on. At the same time I also figured out that she meant to adjust the crampons according to our shoe sizes. Yesterday we saw the Perito Moreno Glacier up close but today we will trek on the Viedma Glacier.

Earlier on in the morning we took a 2 hour bus ride from our hostel to a pier on Lago Viedma. Our diver passed us a voucher, uttered a few words in Spanish and bid us farewell leaving us to find our own way. It couldn't be that hard to find the right boat that headed towards the glacier. Much to our relief, another bus arrived and offloaded a bunch of other passengers along with an English speaking guide who directed us further.

Once we were all saddled in, it was time to hit the ice. Honestly, the Perito Moreno glacier looked a lot prettier than the Glacier Viedma which had rock sediments on it. The sediments came from the adjacent mountains and gave the glacier the look of someone with badly plagued tooth. I used the word ugly when talking to my tour guide and she was quick to point out that different was a more appropriate desccription as those dirt were of natural causes.

Walking on rocks with crampons felt a bit strange and the screeching sound produced by the spikes rubbing against rocks was a little too much for me. But once we were on the big ice, the spikes gripped perfectly and kept us stabilized and balanced on the otherwise slippery ice surface. The overall ice trekking experience took approximately 1.5 hours with us stopping at various points for the customary tourist photos. We saw large crevaces and even went under a mini bridge formation. The glacier icescape did bear some resemblance to a lemon meringue pie. Half way through the hike, our guides also served us Baileys with glacier ice which I thought was pretty nice.

On the journey back to shore, we chatted with a lovely Swiss couple Arnaud and Melissa. They did an ice trekking trip to Perito Moreno as well and according to them today's trek was better. Although Perito Moreno looked [i]cleaner[\i] the trip was also a lot more rigid with everyone having to stay in a single file with less interaction between each other. Admittedly, I expected a little more from the mini adventure - they didn't have the ice cave that was advertised in the brochure! I was looking forward to a more challenging pace to make up for my missing out on Torres del Paine but too bad for me.

The past 36 hours had brought a whirlwind of uncertainty. It's only by God's grace that we are now safe and sound in Puerto Iguassu, Missiones, Argentina.

Rewind back to yesterday. It is now Thursday at 8am in El Calafate. After being told to come back to the hostel reception at 9am with my flight details for the airport transfer reservation, I went away to pack my bags and reply some emails. I had planned to leave for the aiport at 10am but was surprised to be informed that my flight had now been brought forward 20 minutes from my original 11.43am departure time.

It was a mad rush gobbling down my breakfast, booking the transfer, and double checking that I hadn't left anything behind as the van was going to arrive in 15 minutes. Well, what do ya know - it arrived 20 minutes after the scheduled time. More waiting ensued as the van went on to pick up other passengers enroute to the airport but I finally made it there at 10.15am. I threw my head back in disbelief when I saw the check-in line which was almost as long as the width of the Perito Moreno glacier. Almost.

45 minutes later and I'm finally at the front of the line. At least I still had 20 minutes before my flight disembarks.
Gate 3, boarding at 12.30pm.
Wait a minute, isn't my flight suppose to be at 11.20am?
Oh yes, it has been delayed.
All that without a hint of an apology. The staff at the Aerolineas Argentina counter just uttered those words nonchalantly as if delays are the norm.

All the way behind the line stood Daniel. His flight was scheduled for 12.30pm so he took the later transfer. But he was plagued with a different problem - his flight was overbooked. The next flight available was at 3pm with a duration of 3 hours but this meant that we would not be able to catch the bus leaving for Puerto Iguassu at 7pm from Buenos Aires. I was praying har that he would somehow get onto my flight on standby but the Lord was good as his persistent loitering around the checkin counter granted him a business class seat upgrade on his original flight.

Once we arrived at the airport in Buenos Aires, we were still praying hard for our luggage to arrive. Daniel had his bag delayed for a few hours on the way to El Calafate as a standby passenger. Thank God it arrived without any glitches and soon we made our way to Retiro Bus Station.

On arrival we were dumbfounded by the amount of bus companies offering trips to anywhere you desire in and around Argentina. As we walked on passing by more than 90 different bus operators in search for the one we booked with, we concluded that the best way to travel has got to be via long distance coaches. Upon exchange of the vouchers we had for valid tickets, we were told to head down to platform 37 to 55 for boarding. That is pretty open ended if you ask me. The electronic notice board showed 2 buses leaving for Puerto Iguassu but none of which are of our bus company Via Bariloche.

Finally when we saw a familiar green-coloured bus headed to Puerto Iguassu sporting Via Bariloche's logo, we were told that the ticket was not for that bus. By now it was already 6.55pm and we weren't too sure what to make of the situation. A few minutes later, another similar bus heading to Puerto Iguassu as well pulled up to adjacent platform. Hallelujah!

At least the cama ejecutivo (first class bed) was well worth its price with comfortable leather seats that recline almost flat. The nice hot dinner and breakfast made the 16 hour overnight journey not so bad after all. Buen viaje!

It was an early start today. After breakfast, we set out in a van towards Perito Moreno, considered to be on the world´s largest stable glacier. On the way there, we drove past acres of flat lands covered by small shrubs and vegetation. Due to the lack of humidity and strong winds trees cannot grow tall; the only ones seen are planted by home owners to shield from the gusty winds. The vast flatlands looked quite similar to that in Central Australia. We also made a stop to pick some Calafate (where the town got its name from), a blueberry-like fruit which grows on a thorny plant. It tasted a little sweet but mostly seedy probably due to the lack of my calafate-picking skills.

Like El Calafate, Perito Moreno is very touristy and this is reflected in the park entrance of 100 pesos. We decided that we might as well pay an additional 50 pesos for a boat ride out to the glacier for an upclose perspective. After all, blocks of ice falling off the glacier front is said to happen quite frequently in the day. As the boat sailed towards the glacier we felt the chills of the famous Patagonian winds. The glimmering blue waters I saw from afar appeared somewhat murky upclose, like blue-tinted clay contaminating the water. I was told that the sediments in the water comes from the minerals released when the ice blocks break off into the water.

The boat ride made its worth when we managed to see a huge ice chunk break off and fall into the waters below, causing a big splash and ensuing tidal waves to the otherwise calm Lago Argentino where Perito Moreno glacier flows into. 'Oohs' and 'Aahs' filled the air as excited tourists such as ourselves longed for more. Unfortunately time ran out and the boat turned back, heading towards shore. Unsatisfied without a video capture, we were determined to spot another occurence on the walking trail to follow.

The next few hours or so were spent walking on the raised steel platform which lines the edge of the Magallanes Peninsular which is directly opposite of and overlooking the glacier. There were a number of lookout points and we chose one to set up base to wait. From here we got a better glimpse of the sheer size of the Perito Moreno spanning 5 kilometres wide and 74 metres high. It is really a magnificent sight that one has to experience themself. Every small block of ice (at least from where it were it was small) that fell into the chilly waters sounded like a firework explosion; the intensity of the sound depending on the size of the ice block.

From where we were we couldn´t see the entire glacier front, only the aftermath of some breakoffs out of view in the form or waves and cracking sounds. The rupture and breakoffs are due to the fact that the glacier is constantly advancing forward due to the pressure from the top of the glacier where it is formed. We jumped at every rumbing sound, each of us trying to predict when the next big fall would occur.

We felt like all this waiting was akin to a striptease show - getting a glimpse of the exciting stuff but not really baring it all. When we were just about to give up with me exclaiming 'There's going to be no more breaks', a thunderous sound immediately ensured followed by a large block of ice breaking off and sliding into the water. Whilst rejoicing in the fact that we finally managed to catch it on video, yet another breakoff occured on the adjacent face of the previous breakoff point. Now, we could at least go away satisfied not just having seen and experienced but with a recorded piece of the spectacular action.

Today is Sunday. Normally at this time I would be sitting in church listening to a sermon. But this morning I sat lazed out on a comfy leather sofa as the soothing Spanish tunes played out in the background. Che Lagarto certainly one of the best hostels I´ve stayed in during my travels; I dare say it is even better than a budget hotel/motel for a fraction of the price.

El Calafate is a very touristy town. As I took a stroll in the town center, I can´t help noticing that the prices of food are distinctively higher and the exchange rate for USD-Argentine Pesos is slightly poorer compared to Buenos Aires. The main Avenida de Libertador is littered with tourists speaking in their mother tongue. Having said that, this remote little town has certainly earned its stripes as a top tourist destination for all the right reasons.

Even though I didn´t have a window seat, as I was flying into El Calafate yesterday I managed to catch a glimpse of its magically astonishing landscape. From my limited view I Could see snow capped mountaines with Rivers snaking in between forming lakes with the bluest waters I have ever seen. The cloudless skies with glorious sunshine made the jacket redundant even on a reported 10 degree Celsius temperature.

My fairytale impression of El Calafate was confirmed the moment I hit the ground running. This quaint little town was indeed built on the foundations of tourism. Outside of the town area lie only vast spaces of flatlands, bodies of water, and highlands. After checking into my hostel yesterday, I set out to explore the town. Coincidently, there is an ongoing celebration of the 134th anniversary of the founding of Lago Argentina. The municipality had organizad a list of events happening in the town including a fun fair on the main avenue as well as a stage concert for all to enjoy.

As I took in the sights and sounds, I felt relaxed. I didn´t have to be worried about being mugged or anything of that sort. The tranquil atmosphere felt like paradise. In the next days I will be doing a glacier hike and visiting El Chalten which should be fun. I´m not sure why but the moment I left Buenos Aires I had a feeling of melancholy. I miss all my loved ones and new friends I have made. Shin Yee if you´re reading this, I am thinking of you.