Patagonia - Part Two - Mar 16 & 17

Sunday...

OK - after a fantastic day yesterday you might think that once you've seen one glacier, you've seen them all (David did). Even so, since it was too late to cancel Sunday's full day excursion cruising Lake Argentino in order to view five more glaciers on a catamaran, we decided to "tough it out" and wake up early 2 days in a row (retirement's a bitch)!

And that, too, was thrilling for me...the sky was threatening for much of the day, and this was exactly what I had always imagined Patagonia's weather to be. And even though we booked "1st class" seats on our catamaran...the "Upsala Connection" (http://www.fernandezcampbell.com/).

I spent much of the day outside the cabin photographing the glaciers and taking in the entire experience, while David enjoyed the view (from a private balcony) and the company of other passengers in the warm cabin chatting about politics, the economy, etc.

Our first stop was Onelli Bay. We disembarked and hiked through Onelli forest (another of those ancient Andean-Patagonian forests).

On the way back from the walk we met a couple from the UK (Manesh and Sonal) and munched on box lunches while we chatted about traveling, as they have been to many of the places in the world that we are looking forward to visiting.

We spent the rest of the day cruising, first to Upsala Glacier (the largest in the Park)...where 12 days earlier a huge piece of glacial ice broke off... and part of it turned upside down (the swiss cheese looking part)...

and on to Spegazzini Glacier, the highest (over 400 feet above the lake).

Because of its size, the catamaran was able to get incredibly close to the glaciers and ice flows, and we were able to take some pretty good photos, considering that we only have our pocket-size digital camera (different ship shown below but we went in just as close)

After a full day on the water, we turned around and started the 60 minute ride back to Punta Bandera Port, where our bus was waiting to take us back to El Calafate.

After a quick nap (life is tough) we met up with Manesh and Sonal for an Asado dinner ( http://www.3men.com/asado_spit.htm )

at La Tablita, a traditional Argentinian restaurant in El Calafate, where we had one of our best meals to date. (http://www.interpatagonia.com/latablita/)

Monday...

Our last day in El Calafate, we walked around town one last time, bought some souveniers, and left for the airport but not without talking about coming back next year and spending time in Ushuaia (the southernmost city on the continent), Beagle Channel, Tierra del Fuego, and Bariloche.

After a long day, we landed in Buenos Aires around 11:30 p.m. - only to find that our luggage was no where to be found. We met up with a retired French woman "enjoying" the same luck of the draw.

(Two Weary Travelers - No Bags)

Barbara honestly thought we'd never see it again. I, on the other hand, had the great experience of trying to contact the airline for info on the bag's status. I am pleased to report the experience is the same as in the US - Either the phone was constantly "busy" or no one picked it up.

However, Lucas from Aerolineas Argentina told us the night we landed that it would be found and at some point delivered. As promised, it was located and delivered to our apartment 36 hours later. So here we are, with another 3 weeks in B.A., and all kinds of adventures and mini-expeditions left to experience before we head off to Chile to board our ship for the last part of our South American adventure on the way home.

More to come.