Argentina weblog - part five

By Bizzie Frost

 
It was still dark when we left Bustamante at 6 am after only 2 hours sleep.  Matias was up to see us off and, in addition to our drowsiness, there was an air of sadness as we drove away from the beautiful estancia where we had had such a wonderful few days and where Chania had spent the last three months.
 
After 200 kms we arrived at Comodoro Rivadavia with its "oil donkeys" in good time for Dusko´s flight back to Buenos Aires.  It is a rather dismal, utilitarian town where oil was discovered accidentally in the area in 1907 while drilling for water.  After the usual Argentinian carbohydrate filled breakfast, we waved Dusko onto his plane and set off towards Isla Monte Leon, a further 580 kms directly south on the paved RN3.  With Chania & Richard taking it in turns to drive, my task was to keep the driver entertained and awake.
 
Once again, the Rough Guide To Argentina was helpful as I read out pieces of history about Patagonia, the immigrants (mainly Italian, Spanish and Welsh here) and settlers on the estancias, and the indigenous nomadic Tehuelche tribe (pronounced tewelcheh).  This tribe had existed in the area for some 3000 years but with the arrival of European immigrants, disease and inter-tribal warfare, their civilisation declined so rapidly that by 1931, only 350 were recorded in a census in the Patagonian province of Santa Cruz.  Along with its language, it is now virtually extinct.
 
There are other elements that give southern Patagonia and its vastness an air of melancholy.  It is a tough environment in which to live and as we scanned 360 degrees of wide, open empty land, with an occasional sheep, horse, guanaco or choique (pronounced choykee, a bird like a miniature ostrich), we wondered what on earth had made people want to settle here, either in the towns, or particularly on the remote, isolated estancias.  We were at least travelling on a fast, paved road in a car, but a hundred years ago, the immigrants had only tracks and horse drawn open carriages and no other means of communication.  Even now, telephone contact is temperamental and mobile phones only work in the towns.  Having built up their sheep estancias, there was then a crash in wool prices in the 1970s, bankrupting many of them.  There followed the eruption of the Hudson Volcano in Chile sending a plume of ash and gases 18,000 metres into the stratosphere.  With prevailing winds blowing towards Argentinian Patagonia, the results were tragic for the estancias: 25 million acres were affected and over a million sheep died, either buried under a thick layer of ash or starved because all the grazing was covered by it.  There are still some 600 deserted estancias in the Santa Cruz province.
 
After the town of Fitz Roy, with its blockaded and empty fuel station, the land is stark and desolate, but still fenced.  The desertification grew progressively worse as we continued south, but even so we still saw the odd sheep or guanaco.  Places marked on the map, such as "La Cabaña" reminded me of  the "Baghdad Cafe" film as it is just a single fuel pump and a cafe.  The next town south, Tres Cerros, is another fuel stop with a hotel and telephone.  Finding a decent loo en route became increasingly rare as we drove further south - at Piedra Buena there was a disabled loo, but it was totally trashed.  You are unlikely to find loo paper, soap, or anything to dry your hands on.  If there is loo paper, we discovered that in Argentina this must be discarded in a bin and not into the loo itself as their plumbing can´t cope with it.  All the loos have graffitti all over the doors and walls.  This lack of decent toilet facilities wherever you go is perhaps a big deterrent for disabled travellers. 
 
Because we had already come across so many fuel stations without fuel, we bought a 5 litre container at Piedra Buena and filled it with a reserve supply of fuel.
 
We arrived at Monte Leon in the early evening and received a warm welcome from Juan & Sylvia, a charismatic couple in their sixties who both come from long lines of Patagonian families and who run the original estancia Victorian house as an up-market guest house.  Chania had already met them during her time at Bustamante and they were both impressed by the voluntary work that she had done there.   In respect of this, we were treated as personal guests and given the best rooms in the house instead of being in the cheaper converted "Chicken House" where we had booked.
 
In the 1800s, the main house had been shipped in its entirety from the UK, down to the smallest details such as door handles.  Slyvia explained the complete inappropriateness of the design for the Patagonia winters as the house has enormously high ceilings - even the doors and doorways are about 8 feet tall!  Heating the house when fuel such as wood and coal were extremely scarce would have been a nightmare.  Apart from re-decorating, the house has been kept in its original Victorian condition with family photos and historical artefacts.  The accommodation is self-catering unless otherwise requested and guests have the use of a superb kitchen.  The house is not designed or adapted at all for disabled guests, but the bedrooms and bathrooms are spacious and very comfortable.
 
Monte Leon used to be a sheep estancia but due to its miles of outstanding coastline with steep, rugged cliffs and colonies of sealions, penguins, cormorants and other wildlife, it was bought from Sylvia´s family and has been turned into a National Park.  That evening, 20th February, was full moon and Juan and Sylvia were off to the beach with their families to watch the moon rise over the Atlantic and go fishing.  We followed them down the gravel road through the park to a point overlooking the cliffs and a beach - by which time the renowned Patagonian wind was beginning to blow!  We watched the moon rise from the car and then headed back.
 
The following morning, we set off for El Calafate (pronounced Calafatay) to see the renowned Perito Moreno glacier.  Juan had advised us to take the much longer asphalt route all the way down to Rio Gallegos, and then up to El Calafate, as the shorter ripio route has very  little traffic in the event of something going wrong.   According to everyone we met, the ripio (gravel) roads are terrible and to be avoided.
 
El Calafate comes as a welcome change as it is a tourist town and resembles a Swiss ski resort town.  As well as having lots of shops, restaurants, hostels and hotels, it also has a population of happy-go-lucky dogs who roam the streets befriending anyone and everyone, and chasing the rolling tyres of vehicles.
 
We booked into the friendly log cabin style "Hostel Calafate", around GBP22 for a 3 bed room.  Missing out on a good dinner, I then spent about 3 hours on the hotel internet which was painfully slow.  Later, we set our alarm for 6 am for an early start to the Glacier.
 
Having your own vehicle is a huge benefit as you can arrive at the Perito Moreno Glacier before the crowds.  The main bonus, however, is arriving in time to see the early morning light move over the surrounding hills, creating rainbows above the glacier and gradually lighting up the huge jagged teeth of ice.  No matter how many pictures you have seen of the glacier, it is still worth going to see it live for it is the sound that is so impressive: it crunches, cracks, groans and creaks, and occasionally lets off loud retorts like gunfire, as it slowly melts and pieces break off into the surrounding lake, the tons of ice hitting the water with a resounding boom.  People linger for hours, hoping for a particularly huge piece to break off.  Eventually, you reluctantly tear yourself away after several hours of watching.
 
There are two boardwalks almost a kilometre long, descending to about 4 different viewing platforms on different levels.  Neither are suitable for wheelchairs, and only one suitable for walking sticks or crutches.  The handrails are good and the descent and ascent are hard work but well worth it if you have determination and stamina.  There is also a choice of boat trips, one lasting an hour, the other 3 hours, to see either the Perito Moreno glaciers, or several others.  It is also cold, so you need a jacket.
 
When we first started planning our trip, El Calafate seemed far to far south in Patagonia and I never thought we would get there, but all three of us were very glad that we did.