We leave Chile to Argentina, we take the link from Puerto Natales to El Calafate. Only 4 hours from a city to another one but the Argentinian atmosphere is different. Here, people look warmer, and that suits us because at day, the outside temperature is -10°C. As soon as we get off the bus at El Calafate, a member of the America del Sur Hostal accosts us, that's come at the right time, it's the place we wanted to go. What about this hostal ? A warm-hearted, cosy place. A young people team manages the premises, their kindness and their dynamism bring a familial atmosphere. We go in and we feel at home. The America del Sur hostal , it's a kind of "the Spanish Inn" in El Calafate (translation of a French movie : "l'auberge espagnole" dealing with the Erasmus students exchange). Friendly exchanges with other travelers, fast, reliable information about the transportation and the outings around the city. About what to do here, their slogan is excellent : Watching the Perito Moreno glacier - trekking to the Fitz Roy - Staying at America del Sur hostel. In the evening, we go back in this friendly place with a lot of Pleasure. For the fans of the series "ER", there is the Dr Carter's double ! We are busy in the afternoon, too much perhaps. We wish for ending our trip in Ushuaia to walk on the end of the world and to see again our trekking mate, Jaume. The Aerolineas Argentinas company put an end to our sweet dream. We are out of luck, 2 days ago, they changed the prices for foreigners and only for them, now they charge 2 or 3 times more for a ticket. New commercial strategy of the company. We don't have enough time either to go there by bus so alea jacta est. We spent a long time trying to figure out a solution, and we don't have enough time left to go to the Perito Moreno glacier. The tour will be for tomorrow and Ushuaia will be for a next trip. We end the day in the streets of El Calafate, its wooden buildings and the snow everywhere give the impression of a ski resort. In the evening, delighted, we go back to the hostel ; a concert is improvized, an English girl plays the guitar and sings, the young manager plays the drums on a cardboard box, Mateo shakes a saltcellar by way of maracas and all the Inn's guests sing in chorus the refrains.The disappointment not to go to Ushuaia is forgotten.
The next day, in the morning, we get to the bus terminal ; we take the Perito Moreno scheduled link. The glacier is located in the southern part of the Los Glaciares national park. On the way, we see a puma, an imposing animal crossing the road. The bus stops close to a point of view looking onto the glacier. A new visual slap ! An impressing uneven-surfaced ice block. Stuck between 2 mountain ranges, a few hundreds of meters wide and 14km long, then the glacier stops dead in the lake.

As soon as we arrive, we get on a boat to go nearer to it. Everybody is on the deck in front of this 60m high ice wall. The glacier moves forward, 2m a day, puts heavy pressure on the ice blocks and gives them a particular blue-iceberg color.

The boat trip is about one hour, then we reach the main point of view of this scenic ice block, built on the upper side of the hill. The panorama of the glacier is even more impressing from this spot. A magical, unreal natural phenomenon.

When a 20m high ice block falls apart and noisily crashes into the lake - bringing about a mini tinal wave, everybody stays flabbergasted - eyewitnesses of the glacier work. An Argentinian girl, who was in our bus, takes off her clothes and take a photo with the background glacier. A bet, no doubt. According to Benito, a Spanish boy from Madrid we get on well with during the journey, Everything is included in the package tour : the transportation, the puma, the glacier, the blocks which fall apart and the striptease ! A really beautiful day, we spent hours looking at this nature wonder. Our brain is still bewildered when we come back at El Calafate.