Ice Hiking and Horseback Riding in El Calafate

Day One in El Calafate

I have spent the last month or so planning our Patagonia trip, partly with a tour operator back in Buenos Aires called Chalten Travel. We've organised a full-day excursion to the Perito Moreno Glaciar with a mini ice-hiking trip for the first day, which is what I'm most looking forward to.

The bus sets off for the 80km drive to Los Glaciares National Park, where we cross on a small boat towards the glaciar to take photos. It's one of the most spectacular things we've ever seen. The best bit is the occasional far-off rumble we hear of a piece of ice cracking off the glaciar and the huge splosh it makes when it tumbles into the water.

Perito Moreno

We can see the tips of the icebergs poking out of the water but they often go hundreds of metres below the water level too. 

The boat takes us over to the other side of the lake, where we dump our bags in a hut. Some of the tourists just stop to observe the views, while a group of us sets off for the ice hike. This involves a walk on what I can only describe as the beach, before we stop to put on the huge, heavy crampons.

I can barely walk with the crampons on the sandy dirt surface up to the top of the glaciar, so it's hard to imagine how I'll manage to walk on ice.

Water pool on top of Perito Moreno glaciar

The hike is precarious, to say the least. It's like walking on top of an enormous meringue. Some of the peaks we have to go up and down are near vertical and one slip could result in major injury. As if that isn't enough, there are deep crevices every few metres that lead to huge building-sized drops that could cause certain death. One wrong footing would mean disaster, and I'm actually pretty scared!

There are little pools of glistening, bright blue water every so often and the water drops down for many metres in between the peaks of the meringue. It's all pretty impressive.

After about an hour of hiking, we reach the top and - to my surprise - there's a little table set up with a huge basket of alfajor biscuits and a couple of bottles of whisky! The group of us stops for this unexpected refreshment before hiking back to the beach.

Whisky and alfajores on top of the world

Next, we head back across the water on the boat and the coach takes us to a viewing point where we can see nothing but miles and miles of pure glaciar.

Perito Moreno from the walkways

The views are incredible but I'm freezing cold by this point and don't want to stay out for too long so we take a few snaps from the different points of the walkway and head back to the coach. 

We fill up on juicy Patagonian steak and red wine in the evening before heading to bed.

Day Two in El Calafate

We're both under the weather by this point and the Irishman's back is killing him but we've already paid for a horseriding trip so we decide to go along anyway.

Despite the fact that we've arranged the horseride through a tour operator, we arrive at the little hut at the bottom of the town and the owners seem surprised to see us. Two cowboy types, one who is visibly stoned, invite us in and survey us with amusement. They don't speak English, so I translate to them that the Irishman's back is hurting and he doesn't want to injure it further by horseriding, so he just wants to observe while I horseride. (Note: I actually hate horseriding and am petrified of horses but I paid for this excursion for the Irishman's birthday and I am damned if I let my money go to waste).

The cowboy dude looks the Irishman up and down and tells him in no uncertain terms to "Man up". He hands him some sort of special, anaesthestic, healing balm and gives him no choice but to come out and mount one of the horses.

The cowboy organises for me to have one of the tamer horses and he leaves us with the younger cowboy and off we go. The young cowboy is about 23 and spends the entire two-hour excursion chatting me up. He ignores the Irishman completely because he doesn't speak Spanish, and I am amused by his line of questioning. He thinks I am about 19 (I am in fact 29). A pack of local, feral dogs follows us for the entire trip. 

Eventually we get back to the cowboys' hut and are given mate (strong, bitter Argentine tea) to try. Mate (pronounced MA-tay) looks like weed and is drunk from a little pot with a metal straw. A lady hands the little pot to the Irishman and he takes a couple of sips while I wonder when she's going to give me mine. It turns out mate is a drink to be shared between friends. You take a sip and pass it on. Lovely, since we both now have coughs and colds! The lukewarm liquid is way too strong, like over-stewed green tea, and I'm not a fan, but I'm glad to have tried it.

Thoroughly exhausted after the 25km hike, the shorter hike, the ice hike and now the horseride, we feel like we've earned a rest and we spend the afternoon in a brilliant literary-café-come-Irish pub called Borges y Alvarez Libro-Bar. I have a toastie and we sit for hours writing postcards and drinking dulce de leche-infused hot chocolate and special coffee. 

El Calafate is a very touristy town but the people are friendly. We take a walk to a view point at the end of the town before heading back to the hotel for our last afternoon in Patagonia.

We specifically chose Esplendor El Calafate for the fact that it has a swimming pool and spa area, so I'm somewhat disappointed to discover that it has very strict opening hours and isn't exactly well-equipped. After our long day, we decide to try out the spa and go for a dip in the pool.

The pool is long, thin and shallow so I decide it's perfect to do a few lengths before relaxing in the jacuzzi section. So I'm alarmed when, on the second length, I crack both shins on something extremely hard and sharp. I am in absolute agony - the kind where you scrunch up into a little ball and squeeze your eyes shut to stop from crying. I discover there is a massive concrete step in the middle of the swimming pool, the same colour blue as the water, with unfinished, sharp edges. What the...?! This hotel is supposed to be a feat of interior design and they literally haven't bothered to warn customers about the massive, life-threatening step in the middle of what is supposed to be a swimming pool. Esplendor gets several black marks added to my mental review.

The rest of the spa is terribly disappointing. The 'jacuzzi' is just a bubbly section of the main swimming pool, meaning that the water is cold. The slate floor throughout the whole area is slippy and there are unmarked steps in weird places, making it generally a very hazardous place to be. Both of us slip and nearly break our necks on a number of occasions. God forbid anyone bring their children here. There is also only one tiny changing room and the whole room is cold and therefore not relaxing or spa-like at all. Fair enough, it looks nice, but it's not the best.

Time for a final Patagonian dinner before heading back to Buenos Aires.