SATURDAY January 28
After a short flight from Tampa, we meet our friends Kathy and Charley at our gate in Atlanta yesterday for an uneventful 10 hour flight to Buenos Aires. Flying over east-central South America this morning looked surprisingly like the gridlike Midwest farms and ranches of the US, but occasionally some interesting topography emerged.
We were met at the airport by our tour manager and guide, Sylvia, and taken to the Brick Hotel in the toney Ricoleta district. Since we were then free until 6 pm, the four of us went looking for food and exploring. We ate lunch at El Sanjuanino, a tiny crowded place that offered a dozen empanada options and cold beer. You can see we had trouble cleaning our plates!
We wandered over to Plaza Francia, where we strolled through the weekend artisans' market and then explored the Claustros (cloisters) del Pilar, an extension to a small ornate church housing a collection of old religious artifacts such as doll-sized statues, primitive paintings and vestments. Through the heavily screened windows we could see the ornate mausoleum rooftops of Ricoleta cemetery. By now, Greg and Charley were chomping at the bit to get their first geocache, so off we went to the cemetery...
... with a quick visit to Evita Peron while we were in the neighborhood.
Our 6 pm orientation meeting with the rest of our group was followed by a delicioso Argentine dinner at a private restaurant (Bajollave) in a converted upscale apartment. They had a tiny 2-person elevator, so some of us opted to trek up 4 long flights of stairs to justify the rich meal. The apartment was exquisitely decorated and the meal amazing. I even ate steak, which is of course mandatory in Argentina.
On the restaurant balcony...
Back to the hotel by 10, ready to crash after a long, enjoyable first day in Argentina.
-----------------
SUNDAY, January 29
Nothing like starting the day off with a stellar breakfast at the Brick Hotel. I had difficulty in pulling myself away from the buffet in time to catch the departure for our city tour, but Greg insisted. Here was the problem:
Olives for breakfast? Yes, please!The tour started at the Cemeterio de la Ricoleta, which we visited briefly yesterday. It's a warren of 13.5 acres containing over 6,400 closely constructed and elaborate mausoleums in styles ranging from Egyptian temples to sleek modern edifices.
Kathy and I were pressed into menial labor helping a ficus on steroids. Also known as an Indian banyan, the tree is so large that you can see only part of the trunk to the right of the fence behind us.
We had a drive-by visit to the Floralis Genérica, a 66 foot tall modern sculpture whose shiny petals were commissioned from the Lockheed airplane factory. In theory, it's a dynamic sculpture whose petals are supposed to open at dawn and close at dusk (thanks for explaining, Fodors). However a faulty petal, too expensive to repair, now keeps it permanently open.
Next stop was the Plaza De Mayo, where we saw the Presidential Palace (think, Madonna singing on the balcony in Evita), and the Metropolitan Cathedral, which was Pope Francis' parish before he moved to Rome.
After visiting the soccer-crazy colorful neighborhood of La Boca, we were dropped off in San Telmo (of our own volition) for the long, hot walk back to our hotel. The Avenue Defensa endless Sunday antique and craft market was in full swing, and we enjoyed browsing the wares and wove through the crowds. Fortunately, Charley is tall enough to make a good landmark.
TRIGGER WARNING: violence to ducks
The strangest fact of the day was learning about the national sport of Argentina, pato, which combines elements of polo and basketball. Pato is Spanish for duck. If you want to know more, check it out. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pato. Disclaimer: no ducks were harmed in the creation of this post.
We ended the day with a tango lesson, then dinner for the 4 of us at Elena's restaurant. Tomorrow, off to Patagonia!
-------------------
MONDAY January 30
Up early this morning for our three hour flight to El Calefate. Security for Argentinean domestic flights is a lot more lax than in the US, though they did scan our bags. No restrictions on liquids, jackets, shoes, etc. Upon our arrival in Patagonia, however, all luggage was scanned for organic products like fruits, plants and vegetables. Both Chile and Argentina are trying to protect the Patagonian ecology by keeping invasive species out.
Always windy, Patagonia is largely desert. El Calefate gets about a foot of rain per year, and the surrounding hills are dry and brown. However, Lago Argentino and the river which runs from it to the Atlantic are intensely blue, varying from deep blue to turquoise to teal.
After transferring to our hotel, Silvia walked with us to a local bird preserve, Laguna Nimez, on the shores of the lake. The habitat varies from marshland and lagoons to grassland, scrubbrush and dunes.
The birds were varied and unafraid of people, and we found the 2.5 km trail much more fascinating than we'd anticipated. Some of our favorite spottings:
Black-faced Ibis
Black necked swans 
Juvenile Cinereous Harrier
Austral flamingos
The flamingos spent much of the time with their heads below water and backsides up, and occasionally the relentless wind would tip one over and its feet would pop above the surface.
Dinner was on our own. We walked down the street to Isabel, where Greg and I shared an excellent stew-like dish of Patagonian lamb and vegetables in a mustard sauce. Charley picked out a reasonable wine from the shelf (the tags are in pesos, and it's approximately 16 pesos to the dollar) and we all went home full and content.
TUESDAY January 31
Today's adventure was visiting Los Glaciares National Park. Always glad to add another NP notch to the travel belt! This was one of the trip destinations that drew us to our Gate 1 program, so we were eager to be on our way. The wind was brisk but the skies clear, and it promised to be a memorable day.
Our local guide, Luciana, loaded us up with interesting facts about Patagonian natural history in general and glaciers in particular during our hour drive to the Perito Moreno Glacier. Lago Argentino paralleled our drive, as the glacier is one of its sources.
As we drove closer to the mountains with the bus swaying in the 25 mph wind, we saw glacier valleys carved during the last ice age 20,000 years ago. At first glance, the land looks arid and barren. However, low, yellowish tufts of grass and thorny Calefate (barberry) bushes cover the ground and can support cattle and sheep, provided they are allowed a large grazing area per animal. The estancias (ranches) here are accordingly wide-ranging, averaging 50,000 acres. A far cry from homesteading with 40 acres and a mule!
We were excited to catch our first view of the glacier's north side, distantly impressive at 2 miles wide and 200 feet high. Yup, that's it over Greg's shoulder. But more impressive views were quickly to come.
I've seen glaciers in the continental US, Canada, Alaska, Iceland and Europe, but have never experienced one as spectacular as we saw today.
The Patagonian ice field is the third largest in the world, after Antarctica and Greenland. The national park, which abuts Chile, encompasses several glaciers. They've built a series of elevated walkways and balcony viewpoints that offer high and low vantage points and get one close to the south glacier 2.5 mile wide face. It was beautiful and amazing. The glacier calved with gunshot cracks, thunderous rumbles, cannon blasts and great splashes.
(For scale, note the people above by the railing in the left foreground.)
As the glacier moves closer to the Magellan Peninsula on which the trails are built, the lake passage between the north and south faces becomes blocked by ice (see eyeball below).
Water level rises on one side until the pressure forces a tunnel through the ice dam and it eventually collapses. It can take many years for this cycle, though the last collapse was in 2016 and there is already a new blockage with a small tunnel visible on the left side in this picture.
And, we saw a condor!
So all in all, a wonderful national park day. Weather karma continues.
Our bus driver kindly dropped off Kathy, Charley, Greg and me at the Glaciarium, a new museum set on the steppe a few miles out of town. True to its name, the museum has wonderful displays (labeled in Spanish and English) on the formation and various types of glaciers worldwide. There are also films of the ice field and glaciers, amazing photographs, and information of the impact of climate change. It was well worth a visit.
We took the free shuttle back to town, which is kind of like a little ski resort village: one main street with lots of little restaurants, souvenir/craft stores, and trekking gear shops. After a casual dinner, we headed back to the hotel to prepare for our early wake up call tomorrow.
Patagonia sunset at 9:45 this evening.
