Argentina

Today we drove from Torres Del Paine, Chile to El Calafate, Argentina - the drive took around 4-5 hours. I thought Namibia was remote, this brings it to a whole new level. No other cars, no gas stations, the only bathroom was taking a "pit stop" on the side of the road. So glad we had a full tank of gas and plenty of water. After about 90 minutes of driving, we hit the boarder crossing for Argentina. We assumed there might be a small store with some snacks and drinks, but we were wrong. We kept driving and driving with endless rolling hills, llamas and crazy winds! We finally reached the small city we were staying in - El Calafate. The main street area was super cute with lots of little shops, restaurants and touristy spots. We stayed in an Air BnB that overlooked the town. It was about 15 minute walk down the hill to town. The highlight for the boys stay here was the Yeti Ice bar that they made Paul and I go into. In the bar, the boys got solid glacier ice and they poured Coca-cola into it which turned into a frosty in less than 30 seconds. The boys were thrilled and LOVED it! Paul and I enjoyed watching the smile on their faces and taking pictures with a fake yeti! 

We also visited the Perito Moreno Glacier which was about an hour drive from the town. Once we got into the national park, we had to take a bus over to the walk way to view the glacier. The wind was blowing off the glacier and as Finn kept saying "natures air conditioner" - which is exactly what it felt like. Freezing cold air being blown directly in your face! Beautiful to see, but we didn't stay too long. 

The next day we left El Calafate and headed to the next area North called El Chalten. This was a tiny town with 1 "so called" gas station. The gas station was a shipping container that got gas delivered every few days with only 1 pump. Most of the time there is a huge line to get gas and a good chance the station will even be out of gas. We stayed 2 nights in this town. We are still in the Patagonia mountains and it was cold, raining and even snowing on us part of the time. We did a hike up to the view point of Mt. Fritz and Laguna Capri. The hike ended up being around 6 miles with an elevation around 1,100 feet. It took us about 3 and half hours round trip. The boys each ate 2 whole peanut butter and jellies along with the rest of snacks we had packed. We didn't plan to hike this much but they did amazing so we kept going.