Patagonia at last

We flew from Buenos Aires down to El Calafate on another tremendously clear day.  The views were stunning from the air, and we were even able to identify the entire Peninsula Valdes, famed sanctuary on the South Atlantic, home to penguins, sea lions, scores of different birds and during the right season, migrating whales.  The land is barren and windswept, empty for hundreds of miles in any direction, until the sunlight begins to reflect the mirrors that are the numerous southern lakes—some small, others gargantuan, like the Lago(lake) Argentino, on which the small town of El Calafate lies.  This town is the gateway to the southern section of the Parque Nacional de los Glaciares(National Glaciers Park). 

We are enjoying our small hotel, Las Cabanitas, with its lovely little garden dotted with enormous lavendar bushes that are about to bloom.  The owner, Gerardo, is knowledgeable and generous with information, as well as the smaller needs of travellers, giving one access to a “guest fridge”, laundry lines, water for tea/mate, and the like.