Visit from home

Flamingos – Firday 08.12.2023

Today I stayed in my bed in the hotel until 8 a.m. Afterwards I made my way to the dining room to take advantage of the breakfast buffet. I kept getting something to eat from the buffet and in total I was busy eating breakfast for almost two hours. Then I packed up my things and left the hotel to pitch my tent at a campsite. So after setting up my tent at a small campsite, I washed my clothes and hung them up to dry.

Afterwards I made my way to Lago Argentino, which is the largest lake in Argentina and the third largest lake in South America. I wanted to look at a small bird reserve there today.

I entered the park and started my little lap. I kept seeing interesting-looking birds. In addition to various species of ducks, swans and small birds of prey, I was also able to look at species that were unknown to me.

After a while I left the actual park via a back exit and continued across the beach to the shore of Lago Argentino.

After taking a few pictures, I returned to the park, making sure that none of the stray dogs followed me into the park. Inside I then ran the last few meters of the circuit. I came across a group of falmingos, which looked very beautiful in the water with their striking color.

After I finished the small but beautiful circuit after almost 1.5 hours, I went back to the campsite and rested a bit. Later I went shopping in a supermarket for the next few days and then cooked myself some burgers on my gas stove.

In the evening I went into my tent and read a bit before I soon fell asleep.

My sister Anna arrives – Saturday 09.12.2023

There was a visit from home for today. My sister wanted to come visit me here and then accompany me for the next few weeks. Since she had already lived in Argentina for a year, the country was not unknown to her, but she had never been to the beautiful landscape of Patagonia and was therefore very happy to come here. She would arrive here this evening and so I couldn’t start a big tour. Since I didn’t want to sit around stupid all day, I chose a tour up the mountain behind the city in the hope that I would get a nice view of the city and the surrounding area.

Since the tour consisted of almost 25 km and around 1000 meters in altitude, I still got up early. I had a quick breakfast at the campsite and bought something for the road at a supermarket. Then I started my tour and made my way to the edge of the city. To do this, I first had to walk through some less touristy streets, where I was almost constantly barked at by dogs.

After a while I left the city and continued walking through the quiet area. First we walked along a river for a while and I was able to enjoy the sound of the water as I wandered lonely through the landscape. Apparently there was no one else on the way to the top of the mountain apart from me, so I had a very relaxing hike ahead of me.

But I soon left the river and continued up the mountain. It took a long time to climb up through small bushes. The path kept changing between smaller hiking trails and a road that I wasn’t quite sure where it was supposed to lead.

After some time I finally reached the top of the mountain. Since it was very windy at the moment, I quickly built a windbreak out of stones and then sat behind it and enjoyed the view for a long time.

Thanks to my windbreak, it was quite warm in the sun and therefore quite pleasant. I made myself some coffee and ate the things I bought. Since I liked the view of the city and the surrounding area, and I got to the top much quicker than expected, I sat there for quite a long time and just looked at the landscape.

After more than an hour I started the descent again. First we went through pastureland again, where I met a few horses. Later we continued downhill along a sandy road, which wasn’t always easy given the fine, slippery sand.

Further down I came across an interesting looking rock formation, which looked as if large sombreros were lying on the stones.

The path then continued downwards and soon I was walking next to a larger sandy road towards El Calafate. After about 26 km I reached the campsite again. I took a long shower straight away because my legs had gotten very dirty from the sand.

In the evening my sister arrived in El Calafate by bus. I picked her up at the center and we walked back to the campsite together. She first set up her tent there and then we went to a pizzeria for something to eat together and she talked about what was going on at home and I talked about my experiences here in Patagonia so far.

At around 11 p.m. we walked back to our tents and went to sleep there, which Anna certainly needed after her long journey and the time change.

Flamingos again – Sunday 10.12.2023

Today we stayed in bed until 8am. Then we had breakfast together at the campsite for a long time. After the second cup of coffee, we headed into town to plan a tour of the region’s glaciers for tomorrow. We looked at various travel agencies and finally decided on a tour, which we then booked directly.

Since we didn’t have much else planned for today and Anna also wanted to see the flamingos, we went back to the bird reserve to look at the birds there. Even though I had already been there, it was still interesting for me.

Today I was even able to admire some flamingos in Lago Argentino, outside the reserve and therefore in the wild, which was another particularly beautiful sight.

Since I had my gas stove with me today, we sat down in the dunes on the beach, made ourselves some coffee and chatted for a while.

Afterwards we looked at the flamingos in the reserve again.

Later we walked the rest of the circular route and then went back to the campsite. We shopped in a supermarket and then cooked ourselves a delicious dinner while drinking a typical Argentinian beer. Since it started to rain soon after dinner and it was already late, we retreated to our tents. I wrote in my diary and read a book for a few minutes. Then I fell asleep again.