El Glacier Martial & the Bus to El Calafate

Yesterday, I got started a little later than I’d planned because I was still so tired from the night before. I guess I returned from the bar around 11, but I was still very tired and wanting to snooze. By the time I was ready to get up, my roommate in the hostel was already moving around, and I was desperately trying to avoid an overly-enthusiastic conversation about my beautiful eyes at 8am. So I pretended to be asleep until he went down for breakfast. I had breakfast and finally got out the door a little after 10, only an hour or so behind schedule.

My plan was to visit Glacier Martial early in the morning, so that I could get a full day of snowboarding in, but I am so happy I was running late. Because the weather is starting to warm up, the lower part of the only run was closed due to the ice, and the lift did not get moving until 11:30 that morning, an hour after I arrived and rented my equipment. I had a decent day on my board, but 7-8 times down the same, icy run was plenty for me. In addition, it was RAINING. Not snowing, raining. I’m pretty sure I’ve never experienced that in my 20+ years going to the mountains. My jacket and pants did a pretty good job of keeping the water out, but I was still damp, and my feet were soaked, as the water soaked through the “breathable” areas of the snowboard boots. Every time I got halfway up the lift during the afternoon, I kept saying to my self, “this is the last one,” but of course, I’d have a good run and not want to stop. I had a ton of good runs this trip, despite the bad conditions. I even decided to try turning onto toe-side with my opposite foot forward, but after a few tries, the icy run changed my mind. In addition to my experience, it was Tobias’s first day snowboarding. I’d recommended that he check out the glacier prices for classes, rather than take classes at the resort, Cerro Castor. The hostel employees said it was much less expensive, because it only has one run, but for beginners and for practicing, that is not always a bad thing. I’m not sure how much lift tickets cost at Cerro Castor, but I assume they are closer to what you’d pay in the states; I paid about $12 for the all-day ticket and the one run. But he loved it, even in the ice and the rain. I remember learning on ice, and the purple spots on my bottom…he didn’t seem to have that problem, probably because he surfs when he’s home in Brasil.

We took a cab back to town and agreed to meet up later, for another round of Irish pub grub, as we did after the navigation the night before. Meanwhile, I washed another set of clothes and managed to burn a hole in my ski jacket. Yep. The cheap plastic lining inside was a little too flimsy for the super-power heater in my room at the hostel and melted within a minute. Literally, this heater was ridiculous; our room was like a sauna with it on. Luckily, only the inner lining and part of the stuffing melted, so the shell is still intact. I’ll need to find some duct-tape to ghetto-rig the jacket at some point, so I won’t loose more stuffing, but for now, it works. But there goes my problem with hauling ski gear through the deserts in Northern Chile and Peru; I was going to ship it all back from Santiago, but now I’ll just ditch the jacket to save space. Problem solved, and it’s $50 less to report to customs upon my return to the states! But add that one to my clumsy stories…just for y’all, Daniel and Damon.

I met up with Tobias and Mario at their hostel, which was really warm and had a rasta-type feel to it. I’d almost wished I would have stayed there, although I love how cozy La Posta was (with an amazing shower!). We headed for Dublin, one of many Irish pubs in this little town, and the one that was closed the night before. We had a few Beagle beers, the artesenal beer made right here in Ushuaia (on the Beagle Canal), and we all ordered milanesa with papas Dublin, which were covered in a rich and cheesy sauce…just what I wanted. I made up for it with a salad and simple bus food today, and with all the exercise in Ushuaia, my food baby is starting to disappear again. Thank goodness, just have to keep moving and stay away from the rich food!

We stayed out a bit late, but I still made it to my bus at 5am…and what a horrible bus ride it was, after a night of heavy beers. I decided to take the bus, instead of fly, because I’d get to see a little bit more of Patagonia. I would have taken an early morning flight, but the earliest flight would still put me in El Calafate by 2 or 3, not leaving much time to do any activities. So the 21-hour bus trip trumped. There’s no semi-camas either, and the roads are horrible, but I did see some amazing stuff through the window. By the time I woke up again, we were out of the tall mountains, more or less, and coming into the areas of Patagonia in which ranching is big. At one point, there were sheep on every hillside – tons of them. The combination of the sheep, jutting rock formations above, and the occasional llama-like animal (I can’t remember the name!) made for and amazing view. There was even a point at which the bus had to slow down and stop for an entire heard of sheep to clear the road! Watching the squatty little things run up the hill with their little lambs was pretty cool. Another exciting part was crossing the Straight of Magellan. The downsides? There’s no roads running from Ushuaia to El Calafate in Argentina, so you have to go through Chile. We only crossed the border twice, but each country required stamps to leave the country, so we had to stop 4 times. There were also 2 families with 3+ young children each, so there was always a baby screaming. And the bus driver put on some not-so-family-friendly movies on the bus – Slumdog Millionaire and Traitor, with Spanish subtitles. I was excited about Slumdog Millionaire until I realized that they speak another language for most of the movie, and I really needed the English subtitles to understand – the Spanish subtitles were not sufficient. And the bus ride was not direct – I have to connect with another bus by another company to get to El Calafate.

So here I am, sitting in the bus station in Rio Gallegos, waiting for my Marga bus (the other was Techni-Austral). Fortunately, I have a hostel employee that will be waiting for me at the bus terminal and has already set up tomorrow’s excursion. I’m excited for yet another fabulous day in Patagonia, on the Perito Moreno Glacier in Argentina’s Parque Nacional Los Glacieres.