Buenos Aires - La Pampa

Back in Buenos Aires, but directly leaving the city direction La Pampa and its estancias, the Argentinian ranches, to make sure that I can still recognise a horse's head from its tail, in preparation for the end of next week.

The "gauchos" as they call themselves have strange pets...

A few pictures of them working outside with the horses.

El Calafate

Welcome to El Calafate, the door to the Glacier National Park. This small town is located on the shore of Lake Argentino, an amazing collection of colours which change all day long, depending on the weather and on the time of the day. This is the view I had from my bed (not kidding !).



Beware : glaciers and icebergs approaching, you might get an overdose of ice pictures below !

After a strong snow storm during the end of the night and the beginning of the morning (and here the wind blows at a speed around 100 km/h, as you can imagine the snow storms are not a piece of cake to deal with...), the sky suddenly gets clearer during a cruise on the lake, and the first icebergs appear by magic...

At the end of the lake are located several glaciers, each of them with a different shape and behavior, all of them fascinating.

On the shores of the lake, it is rather easy to see lots of different wild animals. Below, guanacos (a Patagonian cousin of the lamas) and condors, but we also had the opportunity to see eagles and flamingos.

After the cruise, the famous Perito Moreno glacier can also be discovered from the land, thanks to short walks. A good way to get quite close to it, and to be able to hear it cracking, and to see the big blocks of ice which fall down into the water with a thunder sound.

After all those emotions, there is nothing like a "small" piece of meat, with a good bottle of wine :))

Ushuaia (2)

Last hours spent in Ushuaia, wandering in the streets (which remind a bit San Francisco: you need a good stamina if you want to get away from the shore...) and finishing the visit of the Maritim Musuem started yesterday. It was settled in the old penitentiary.



In the meantine, the smurfins have gone hunting, and it seems that they were quite successful, as they managed to catch a couple of penguins

Ushuaia

To be honest, I am more and more nicely surprised by Ushuaia. May be because I didn't expect a lot from the town itself, but the atmosphere is really special. Just try and imagine a ski resort with buildings in wood, right on the ocean shore, and you might have an idea of how it feels. You can go walking on the icefields, and 10 minutes later start a cruise on the Beagle Channel.





Another good surprise here is the amazing typical pastries that you can find all over the town :))

To change a bit from my "churches days", the theme of the afternoon was the animals, as it was dedicated to a cruise on the Beagle Channel. Perfect sun, it seems that the clouds promised for today have finally decided to stay away. And it is even almost warm (except that with the wind on the boat, it was freezing cold...)

Tomorrow, it will already be time to leave Ushuaia, "the end of the world, the beginning of everything", as local people call the town.