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ONIAN
our eagle-eyed driver helped us spot
an armadillo, grey fox, the rabbit-like
mara, black eagle, the dusky dolphin,
cormorants, ostrich-like rhea, elephant
seals and a variety of birds. We marvelled
at a herd of guanacos – relatives of the
camel – galloping beside our van along
the dirt road.
We returned to Punta Tombo the
following day. Near dusk, thousands of
penguins stood like sentinels in their
nests, with the green grassy slopes and
rocky steppe softly backlit and serene.
When two guanacos walked into the
setting along Punta Tombo Bay, it
became picture perfect. Two penguins
touched, as if to hold hands. Others
waddled in from the sea with vital food
for their chicks. All was well in the
penguin world.
EL CALAFATE – PERITO MORENO
GLACIER
The next day, we flew two hours south
to El Calafate, a stopover in the 1930s
for wagons transporting wool from
estancias, or ranches. The town is the
gateway to another UNESCO site,
Los Glaciares National Park, which
runs 350 kilometres along the Andes
and is part of the Patagonian Ice Field,
second in size only to Antarctica.
Our destination: Perito Moreno
Glacier, one of the few glaciers in the
world that’s not receding. A boat took us
across 15,000-year-old Lago Argentino –
the largest lake in Argentina – and we
watched massive chunks of ice crack off
the 55-metre-high and three-mile-wide
glacier wall.
Upon landing, we trekked through
a forest, ate lunch and then donned
crampons that would allow for steep
45-degree ascents. Two guides stood in
front of the deep blue crevasses as we
carefully stomped by. People of all ages
and abilities climbed stairways of ice,
stood in front of ice caves and survived
slick descents. Our reward was a sip
of Famous Grouse scotch poured over
ancient ice chips. That night, we dragged
our sore muscles out for live music at
an El Calafate restaurant called Los
Alamos. We were in good company. Two
women were interpreters for the United
Nations, others hailed from New Zealand.
We were from California. A pharmacist
was from Argentina and a geologist
and marketing specialist from Spain.
We toasted each other, ate pizza, traded
email addresses and signed everyone’s
journals. The overarching theme of the
scribbled messages: “Friends forever,
one world.”
EL CHALTÉN – TREKKING CAPITAL
The next morning, we boarded a large,
comfortable bus for the four-hour trip
to El Chaltén, built in 1985. The newest
town in Argentina is the gateway to the
jaggedly spectacular Fitz Roy mountain
range at the northern extreme of Los
Glaciares. The village, lined with dirt
roads and metal-roofed buildings, looks
like a 100-year-old Yukon Territory
frontier town. But the setting is stunning,
and the food, divine.
One evening, the chef at El Muro
surprisingly offered up a plate of
perfectly presented stir-fried vegetables –
fat slivers of pumpkin and vegetables
topped with pumpkin seeds, along with
grass-fed Argentine steak for $8 CAD
(we never had a bad steak – ever), baked
potato wedges brushed with olive oil and
a starter of toast with an eggplant spread.
At centre stage are two of the most
dramatic granite peaks in the world,
Mt. Fitz Roy at 3,375 metres and Mt.
Cerro Torre at 3,102 metres, which tower
above the town. We were lucky. In three
days, we had clear views of both peaks,
which is unusual except in March when
we were there. I hiked – albeit very slowly
– to the Cerro Torre lookout, where I took
pictures of fellow trekkers, with the icy,
spiky-peaked wonder in the background.
Every day, we rose at sunrise and
waited at sunset to photograph the
pinkish alpenglow, a swirl of lenticular
clouds and dominating burnt orange
peaks. One day, we simply sat in our
hotel, gazing out a picture window at the
mountain range. We relaxed, chatted with
the staff and read books before heading
out for another culinary treat.
We ended our trip in Buenos Aires,
but first spent several nights in Iguazu
Falls, another UNESCO site north
of Buenos Aires. Iguazu is a magical
place with hundreds of waterfalls in a
rainforest of butterflies that will land
on your face if you let them. Walking the
boardwalks was fun, but the highlight
was taking a motorized raft into the
largest waterfall, Devil’s Throat, where
we got soaked. Interestingly, my sore
muscles stopped hurting for several
hours after the dunking – I’m sure due
to the endorphins caused by laughing
so hard my stomach ached. nV
To help you plan a custom itinerary, or
book a South American tour or cruise,
contact your Ensemble Travel® agent.
ENSEMBLE VACATIONS FALL 2009
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