OAT - Patagonia and Beyond

January 3 - Buenos Aires to El Calafate

We were up by 5:30 after a very restful night’s sleep. We could have slept longer, but we had a last minute itinerary change and had to catch a morning flight to El Calafate. We were originally scheduled to be in Buenos Aires for another day but the airlines changed things around for our tour. This means that we spend an extra day in Patagonia. We like this change because we came to see nature, not the city.

After a really good buffet breakfast, we got onto our bus and drove to the domestic airport. Our flight was in two segments – Buenos Aires to Bariloche and then to El Calafate. It was unusual that we had to pick up our bags in Bariloche and check them in to El Calafate. I guess the airlines do not have reciprocal agreements. We had plenty of time between flights, so it was easy.

Lupine in El Calafate

Beer at La Lechuza

Marco, who got to El Calafate on an earlier flight, met us at the airport with our bus. We drove directly to Kosten Aike hotel. This is another nice hotel. We are on the second floor so it is easy to take the stairs. There is no air conditioning but it is not needed. The weather is cool for the middle of the southern hemisphere summer.

We are officially in Patagonia.

We took a short orientation walking tour around our hotel. Then Ann and I stopped at Cafe La Lechuza for some snacks and good local beer. We split some empanadas – carne, pollo and tomato, cheese and basil. We also had some local craft beer.

Dinner At Kau Yatun El Quincho Restaurant

We had dinner at Kau Yatun. The El Quincho restaurant features grilled meat – beef, chicken, lamb and sausages. The meat is served on mini-grills that are placed on the table. We also had a salad bar and more empanadas. The restaurant also features entertainment- a guitarist/singer and dancers doing local folk dances. It was a fun evening even though we didn’t get back to the hotel until 11:00.