11.2 El Calafate

samfloy~14 February 2013 /Latin America/Travels

El Calafate, Patagonia, Argentina
Thursday, February 14, 2013

There were no real surprises from Calafate which wasn’t a bad thing at all.

The main street was normal enough: restaurants, banks, clothing outlets. Food was a little pricey, though I may still be adjusting to life away from the $1 dinners of Peru/Bolivia.

The hostel I stayed at was up on the hill and overlooked the town and lake. All very scenic, but a bit of a walk.

On the second night (after 11.2.1) there was a festival in the town. Or at least I went to the week-long festival on that night.

There was a performer on stage and surrounding was a number of arts and crafts stands.

This was a bit like a Christmas Fair – handmade chocolates, wooden statuettes, and even a puppeteer.

Food stands were on the other side, and from what I can gather each was being run by/ raising money for local sports clubs.

There were rumours in the hostel that the President was in town. However despite seeing what looked like her lorries, they turned out to be promoting the work of the National Highways.

I even got handed some leaflets detailing the wonderful work gone into constructing the Argentinean road network.

This also showed me the first example of the Argentinean body clock being out of sync with back home.

Even at 11pm there were coddled toddlers being brought to the Fair by their parents, and the whole family seemed wide-eyed as the festivities began properly.

It all stems from the siesta, which pushes back finishing work, dinner, and hence going out.

Leaving the kids to stay up and party, I headed back to pack and continue the journey north in the morning.

High street
Concert
Presidential lorry
Road presentation
Not a real dog
Food stands
Berry description
Good morning
‘Christmas Fair’