'Fun'

A couple of days ago, we arrived in Bariloche after a 30-hour bus ride from El Calafate. It was late when we arrived at the bus terminal, and we were understandably tired. In our somewhat befuddled state, we mistakenly opted to stay somewhere 'fun' - indeed, the name should have given it away: Fun Patagonia Hostel. I'll stop right there before I start sounding too much like the grumpy old fart that I am ;)

When last I wrote just over a week ago, we were in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego. Since then we've been to El Calafate (ideally situated for going to see the Perito Moreno Glacier), Bariloche (really great fun) and now San Martin de los Andes (genuinely quite splendid).

In Ushuaia, we found a really great cafe/restaurant (Ramos Generales)... In fact I think we spent the best part of 2 days in there - the food was great, the coffee was superb and the decor really rather tasteful. However, after our first day of indulgence there, we felt it necessary to get out and see some of the local scenery. A few hours walking (and 15 minutes on a ski lift) took us to the Martial Glacier. We were accompanied by a German girl from the hostel and joined later by one of the country's ubiquitous stray dogs, who stayed with us for a good couple of miles. Anyways, 'twas a treat of a walk and needless to say the views were great. The glacier itself is pretty titchy, but it was reet grand to get out and about, and its diminuitive size served to increase the impact of the incredible Perito Moreno Glacier we'd see a few days later.

The trip from Ushuaia to El Calafate was another 20ish hour beast (leaving at 5am, arriving 1am the next morning), but for some reason seemed to pass fairly swiftly. Off to Hostel de las Manos (highly recommended - particularly welcome was the free pick-up from the bus terminal) for a couple of nights. El Calafate allowed more opportunities for lounging around in cafes, but more importantly it is the base for most of the excursions to the Perito Moreno Glacier. We chose the MiniTrekking deal, whereby you get a couple of hours strolling the viewing platforms at the face of the glacier, then a short boat ride followed by an hour and a half on the ice itself. Total cost including the entrance fee for the national park is AR$460 (just a little less than £100) and it is definitely worth it. There's a load of photos at http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/gibboniser/PeritoMorenoGlacier - I won't try and describe how amazing it was, but hopefully the photos give you some idea!

Next up we had another monstrous bus journey... this time, 30 hours to Bariloche. There are actually a couple of different routes between El Calafate and Bariloche - one via the shorter, but unsurfaced, RN40 (about 40 hours) and the one we took which goes much, much further via Rio Gallegos and up the RN3... Check it out on a map - the difference in distance is quite incredible. Anyway, on particular journey we were treated to a genuinely plush bus, some awesome 90s party music and a number of films from the half-decent (The Departed) to the painfully, terrible (Little Man). Lessons learnt: drinking wine on long bus journeys is a very good idea.

Bariloche, as I already mentioned, is tremendous fun. We generally managed to avoid too much of that, thankfully, instead choosing to bum around in cafes again. The city itself is renowned as for its chocolate - we probably didn't eat as much of it as we should have!

A short (4 hour) bus ride down the 7 Lakes route brought us to San Martin de los Andes, from where I write this bloggage now. I'm actually planning on getting out and seeing some scenery soon, but otherwise I'll be taking it pretty easy. Of course ;)