So after Ma and Pa’s plane took off and I left the Harry Potter movie with a content smile on my face, I was ready for my last weekend in Buenos Aires. The next day, Saturday, I headed to the Recoleta fair, where I met up with an Argentine friend Marianela that I had met at Oktoberfest in Córdoba. She lives just 40 minutes out of the city, so we were able to meet up and spend the day in the park, soaking up the sun that I would soon miss in Michigan. That evening we went to one of our favorite clubs called Terrazas, the really big, maze-like one with all the terraces outside.
This following week was finals. By Thursday, finals were over and we had our big IES going away party. This was Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving in Buenos Aires in 85 degree weather. As if that wasn’t strange enough, this party was more of a cocktail hour as opposed to a sit down dinner, something NONE of us were expecting. You can imagine our disappointment when the turkey was brought out and cut into tiny pieces as opposed to sitting at the end of a large buffet with other delicious Thanksgiving plates…I was distraught.
After the shock of the meal wore off, the music began and we danced, took pictures and recounted funny memories of our semester abroad, unable to believe how quickly these 4 months had flown by. While on our way out of the restaurant, I was stopped by a massive group of my classmates who had joined into a jam session outside. It consisted of 2 guitars and a harmonica, playing the tune of “God Bless the USA” while 60 American college kids screamed the lyrics along with it. A proper send off, I thought. That night we, IES staff and all, headed to one of our favorite bars to continue the celebrations into the early hours of the morning.
Friday there was only time for packing, because my two friends Callie and Claire and I were off to Calafate that afternoon. We took off at 5pm for a 3 hour flight south, wayyy south, into Patagonia. When we landed, I felt like I was in Alaska. The state gets its name of “Land of the Midnight Sun” because of its proximity to the north pole, causing it to only have a few hours of darkness during the summer. The same happened in Calafate, I found, because even as late as 10:30 it was still light out. That Friday night we didn’t have much time besides dinner, considering figuring out our hostel situation took about an hour.
I have to say, we had gotten very lucky when it came to hostel reservations over our time abroad. But naturally, when I was in charge of the hostel reservation for this one trip, the Karvelis vacation charm kicked in. The 3 of us had to split into 2 rooms, so several days before, my friend Callie made her reservation successfully while I took care of mine and Claire’s. After some back and forth emailing, the woman on staff told me it’d be fine if we just took care of the situation once we got there. So I took her word for it and we showed up without a reservation. They informed us that there was no more room. Go figure. So we decided that we would just go to another hostel. But then, of course, they had a 72 hour cancellation policy, so Callie would have to pay for the nights she would cancel for. This was probably my biggest issue with Argentina. There was no perception of customer loyalty. So after much unsuccessful arguing and insisting that they should at least take one night off from the cancelation fee, considering they had been the ones that had told me to wait and not make a reservation until I came in person, we decided to leave. Luckily, a few hours later we had other people to take Callie’s bed, so she was off the hook.
But seriously though? Unbelievable.
So this is what happens when you don’t value your customers:
NEVER book your stay at the America del Sur Hostel in Calafate. They are incompetent.
We made sure to go back there the next morning and steal their breakfast food. But that’s beside the point. Moving on…finally we were settled in at the other hostel. The next morning we slept in a bit and walked around town. It didn’t take long, especially because it only had one, main street. But it was very quaint, nonetheless. That afternoon we took a horseback riding excursion out in the hills. The tour guide led us near a beautiful lake, and on our way back we met up with quite a few cows grazing in the fields. Later that night we decided to try lamb, the region’s specialty, at nearby parrilla that had a gorgeous view over the city.
The next day was the big one: the glacier hike. The day before we had rented waterproof clothes, boots, gloves, and sunglasses for $25 USD in town, so we were good to go. The morning started out early, and we took a bus out the Glacier National Park, about 1.5 hours from the city of Calafate, where we caught our first glimpses of the Perito Moreno glacier. Named after the Argentine explorer Francisco Moreno, this glacier is one of the few, large glaciers in the world that is stable, meaning it hasn’t started melting away yet. We stopped at a lookout point for a few hours to eat lunch and take some time to walk down to the lower balconies to get some better shots of the glacier.
Later, the bus took us to the docks by the water, where we boarded a boat and traveled along the other side of the glacier in preparation for our glacier hike. We got off the boat near a forest, and after a brief stroll through the woods, it was time to put our crampons on (the big metal spikes you tie to your shoes) and get on the ice. Our tour guide, Federico, took us around the glacier and showed us cool formations and little lakes and waterfalls that had formed within the ice. I felt like I was hiking on a big mountain of frosting. It looked like a different world, one of the strangest things I’d ever seen. After about 2 hours of hiking, we were greeted by other tour guides who presented us with an alfajor (those cookies with dulce de leche) and a shot of scotch on the rocks (cut right out of the glacier, I might add). It was a very interesting experience, and within just a few minutes on the bus ride home, we had passed out. That night was spent eating pizza in our pajamas while watching the limited English programs that were shown on the hostel TV.
The next day, Monday, we slept in again, and after an embarrassingly large breakfast, walked around town a bit more, not up for much considering we had had such a long day on the glacier the day before. That night, we visited another estancia for the evening. As we watched the people step off the bus, we quickly realized that we were the youngest people there by at least 30 years…we were in for an interesting night. Upon our arrival we were greeted with coffee, but with an unusual twist. Our guide, Agustín, took a few coals from the fire, rolled them in sugar, and threw them into the kettle of coffee. He then poured the liquid through a filter and served it. The outcome was a delicious coffee beverage with an awesome smoky taste. Apparently it’s a traditional gaucho drink. This estancia in particular grew a large amount of sheep, so later we got to watch a sheep shearing demonstration by our friend Raúl. He did a great job. After the shearing, we had a glass of wine and some kind of outstanding lamb bruschetta as an appetizer before dinner. Later, after yet another delicious Argentine barbeque, we got to watch another gaucho dance performance. Somehow, for us, they never seemed to get old.
Tuesday was kind of a bummer. The 50 mph winds, which apparently are very common there, prevented us from doing anything. We had hoped to bike ride to the lake, or at least take a walk, but either way would have been a pain more than anything else. So we spent the day drinking Quilmes and watching whatever trashy American television we could find, among them MTV’s “Parental Control” and “True Life: I’m a binge drinker.” That evening, we caught the 8:00 flight back to BA, stopping in Ushuaia for a quick glimpse of the southernmost tip of South America before continuing on home.
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