Our stay in Chile turned out to be a bit shorter than expected. It was simply the popularity of and difficulty of getting to Torres del Paine that pushed us across the border into Argentina -- our twenty fourth country to date! We seem still to be adjusting to the new time zone, so Kylie didn't stumble out of bed until the rest of us were done with breakfast and ready for the brisk half hour walk back to the bus station. Given the five plus hour bus ride ahead of us, I was happy to get a little exercise.
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| Home for the night |
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| Early morning walk |
The ride was very comfortable on our fancy double decker bus, though we didn't get to ride on the top. The border crossing, out in the middle of nowhere, was quick and painless -- twenty minute stop to exit Chile and, three kilometers later, another to enter Argentina.
The land here is sparsely populated and beautiful with wide open spaces and rugged snow covered peaks. At the border, it was interesting to see a sign proclaiming "Las Malvinas Son Argentina" (The Falkland Islands are Argentina). I actually remember the Falklands War where Britain reclaimed the Islands just a few weeks after Argentina invaded them. The Islands, which lie off the southern coast of Argentina, have been a British Crown colony since 1841 though they have long been claimed by Argentina. Despite the sign, the Status quo still prevails with the U.K. firmly in control of the islands.
As an alternative to Tores del Paine, the new plan is to visit El Chalten and the nearby Fitz Roy Range, apparently equally spectacular to the mountains in Chile. Interestingly, the town was established in 1985 in order to bolster Argentina's claims of sovereignty over this area, which is apparently disputed with Chile. This would explain why one section of the border between the two countries is mysteriously missing on Google maps. In any event, on the way to El Chalten is El Calafate, our destination for today and the home base for trips to the Perito Moreno glacier.
One thing we've enjoyed about these smaller towns is the number of dogs running around. It's not clear who, if anyone, owns them though they seem to be in pretty good shape. It’s funny, before we left home, we’d been warned that for many of the countries we'd be in we should avoid approaching or touching the animals. Hmm, so much for that! I don't think there’s been a dog or cat, let alone a cow or goat that we haven't approached and tried to pet since we've been gone (though always with some caution). In Auckland, our friend Steve was concerned that the neighbor’s cat, which came to visit, might have fleas as he’d recently read about a infestation in the paper. Given the number of animals we’ve greeted and touched in the likes of India, Nepal, Laos and Cambodia, our point of view was understandably different.
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| Outskirts of El Calafate |
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| Home sweet home |
Once we settled into our new home, we talked the kids into getting some exercise and taking a walk at the Laguna Nimez Reserve bird sanctuary. On the way through town, we befriended a sweet short legged dog who followed us all the way to the reserve and somehow even sneaked in for a while (apparently he missed the sign barring dogs). We creatively called him "Short Legs".
The reserve really did turn out to be an excellent place for birds, and we even spied a flock of flamingos far out into the wetlands. After two days on planes and buses, it was great to stretch our legs. Tomorrow would be our first chance to really explore some of the area with a visit to the Perito Moreno Glacier.
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| Long tailed meadow lark |
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| Chimango caracara |
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| Grey hooded sierra finch |
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| Magellan goose |
The land here is sparsely populated and beautiful with wide open spaces and rugged snow covered peaks. At the border, it was interesting to see a sign proclaiming "Las Malvinas Son Argentina" (The Falkland Islands are Argentina). I actually remember the Falklands War where Britain reclaimed the Islands just a few weeks after Argentina invaded them. The Islands, which lie off the southern coast of Argentina, have been a British Crown colony since 1841 though they have long been claimed by Argentina. Despite the sign, the Status quo still prevails with the U.K. firmly in control of the islands. 
The reserve really did turn out to be an excellent place for birds, and we even spied a flock of flamingos far out into the wetlands. After two days on planes and buses, it was great to stretch our legs. Tomorrow would be our first chance to really explore some of the area with a visit to the Perito Moreno Glacier.
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