Thursday February 17th, 2017
El Calafate is a small town of around 23,000 permanent residents on the southern shore of Lago Argentino, whose western end becomes a series of glacial valleys or fjords running leading into the southern end of Parque Nacional dos Glaciares. El Calafate is a major tourist centre and the little CBD was bustling with tourists and locals alike, despite the pouring rain.
El Calafate street scenes
Our visit to the CBD was brief and focused: to find a restaurant that can handle a gluten free meal, and get some fruit and yoghurt. In addition we explored a large tourist shop selling masses of fascinating and good quality local art and craft work and fabrics, and at some hefty prices too!
An art and souvenir shop, and some of its art work.
The city in general seems a mixture of the run down, refurbished and modern. Footpaths seemed non-existent, or very broken up, and there was a fair bit of rubbish. The wet and grimy run-off coursing down the streets was often splashed on to pedestrians by the many passing cars. There were dedicated pedestrian crossings, but we were never quite sure if we’d been seen: in Punta Arenas motorists stopped well before the crossing and waited for you to start crossing, whereas here the drivers were more aggressive.
We didn’t see a high-rise or modern office block; may be they have them elsewhere. Even the casino was of a low profile. There was a three or four storey hotel near us, but it didn’t scream extravagance. In all, and despite the rain and consequent grime, El Calafate seemed a very human and homely city.
There was plenty of colour on homes!
Where we are staying, in a hostal located on a low hill just a 10-15 minute walk from the CBD, there are vacant or derelict blocks next door to quite posh houses. This theme was repeated elsewhere. They love colour here, as many of the older but probably refurbished houses and shops have strong colours. If the rejuvenation continues in this vein, El Calafate will be quite colourful! On the other hand, we saw very modern homes in the outer suburbs.
Our hostal – La Posada del Angel - was a simple modern two-story home. It was clearly well heated, but our upstairs room was thankfully much cooler! Our host was a large, friendly Argentinian with reasonably functional English and a sense of humour; we liked him. Although we’d only been there one night he gave me a hug and Krista a peck on the cheeks when we left. Even our taxi driver gave her a peck on the cheeks! Maybe Argentinians have kept the formalised affections of the European component of their heritage.
No comments:
Post a Comment