Last night my sleep was interrupted several times by the severe howling of the Patagonian wind. When I woke up this morning there was nothing visible from the window, so I pulled myself out of bed and walked to the window to see a most unexpected spectacle – a snow storm!
Snowfall From Our Room
It was coming down in volumes and the ground was covered till suddenly it all stopped and the glacier surfaced in the distance. Once again, I can only talk about it but cannot describe the experience in totality – the closest expression I can think of is ‘awesome’!
We had till 5.30pm to relax and so we did. I walked through the snow, savoured every bit of this untouched and unpolluted environment and enjoyed the powdered look of the distant hills which were all so chocolatey yesterday. The breakfast as usual was great and highly recommended is the Calafate and Rosa Mosqueta jams on gorgeous freshly baked grain bread. I guess the whole ambience works wonders on your appetite and even the Brasilian and Columbian coffee brews tasted different. Lazying around in the ‘lazy lounge’ and walking around in the gardens of the Los Notros, I got to know more about the staff, majority of whom came from distant Buenos Aires and worked 12 days at a stretch for their 3 days off to El Calafate.
Hosteria Los Notros with Spring Snow
It was time to leave and we bad our farewells on the way to El Calafate. The snow fall had changed the sights which looked so different from what we saw 2 days ago and then we reached Posada Los Alamos, our hotel in the cute little town of El Calafate at 7.00pm. There was still enough sun light and we quickly made a trip to the town centre which has a very Swiss village kinda feel – one of those skiing towns? I haven’t been to any, just seen them in print. It was biting cold outside and layers didn’t help too much. The wind just finds it way through.
El Calafate Street
When hunger struck, we walked into a ‘eat as much as you can’ buffet cum asado (grill) where the beef was supreme and the rest of the fare consisted of salads, sausages and plenty of dessert! Washed down with a few glasses of local wine, it was once again a case of over eating.
Asado - That's Argentinian for Ribs!
Tomorrow, we have the first half in El Calafate till we take our flight to Bariloche, the hub of the Argentinian lake district.
