Patagonia 2022!: Crossings, Climates, Canines, and Cultures

Sunrise Over Torres del Paine From Our Room

There were some consistent power problems in our hotel over this night, with breakers going on and off. It did not wake us up, but it did mean that when I woke up, we had zero power in the room. I reported it around 6:00am and was told they had called in maintenance. Without knowing how long it might take to resolve, I ended up taking a shower in complete darkness. It was quite the experience. Luckily, Katherine had showered the night before, upon returning from her massage, with full power. As luck would also have it, the lights came on right AFTER I finished dressing. Of course.

Some of Our Final Views as We Departed Torres del Paine National Park

A Chilean Swallow

Cascades del Paine Waterfall

This was to be a day of driving, which we all expected. We were leaving the Torres del Paine area, and Chile entirely. We wound our way through the park, stopping several times along the way for pictures (and baños). As soon as we crossed over the mountains, heading east, it was immediately clear that we were in a new climate area. Gone were the lakes, river, and green forests. We learned that we'd left the Pacific-affected climate of the windward side of the Andes (with the moist air driving up the mountains from the Pacific) and emerged on the leeward, desert-like side, influenced by the Atlantic. Almost all of the moisture driving up the mountains on the other side created clouds and rain to the west, but the east was left relatively parched and spartan. We came across many herds of guanacos as we left the mountains behind us. We were making another wide U-shaped detour, as our destination for the next three nights was the small town of El Calafate in Argentina, which sits at the foothills of Torres del Paine, on the eastern side of the southern Chilean ice fields. If we'd been able to travel over the mountains and glaciers, the distance between Torres del Paine and El Calafate is only about 50 miles, but we had to drive about 180 miles, to go around.

Guanaco

Aside from guanacos and the occasional flocks of sheep, there was not much to see until we reached the border. We stopped on the Chilean side, at a nice "Five and Dime"-like trading post, which allowed us to use up any remaining Chilean pesos we still had. We had been spoiled in Chile, as the exchange rate was essential 1,000 pesos per dollar, which made mental price calculations quite easy. Once back on the bus, we drove a few meters, had to disembark, and then queued up to clear Chilean exit immigration. There were several buses lined up with people crossing from Argentina into Chile, but we were the only people at that time crossing in the opposite direction. Once stamped, we drove through a three-to-five mile expanse of so-called no-man's land. The border between Chile and Argentina in Patagonia is both a "work in progress" and the result of years of compromise. Relations between the countries, though good now, have not always been as such, with military conflict as recently as 1982. Earlier compromises had essentially set the land border along the spine of the Andes, with some remaining disputes as to where to divide some glaciers. We heard the interesting -- and previously unknown to me -- history of how Argentina launched a failed invasion of Chilean Patagonia in 1982. Under the last military junta in Argentina, with an eye toward distracting dissatisfaction at home, the generals sought out an external conflict to unite the people. They saber-rattled against Chile, arguing that the previous agreement to cede access to the Pacific solely to Chile and access to the Atlantic to Argentina was unfair. Preparations were made for an aerial and naval assault, to the point that people were evacuated from Punta Arenas. As fate would have it, the day Argentina launched their effort, terrible weather and fierce winds thwarted them. They quickly abandoned their plans and, instead, decided to focus on the Malvinas (or Faulkland Islands), and we all know the history of that little conflict with Great Britain. It was that defeat, in fact, that hastened the fall of that last military government and the return of democratic rule to Argentina.

Departing Chile

No-Man's Land

We piled back off the bus, cleared immigration, and were once again on our way. Javy crossed the border with us, but made sure to let us know that legally, he was not allowed to work in Argentina. He continued to talk to us and provide us information, but he said that if they were pulled over and/or when we passed a police checkpoint, he would sit in the back with us and not let them know he was a guide from Chile. We were to have an Argentine local guide, who we met the next morning, along with a new bus and driver. Javy and our current bus and driver drove all the way back to Punta Arenas early the next morning.

During the final couple of hours, driving toward El Calafate, we learned more history of the area, as well as the extremely confusing monetary situation in Argentina. Our pre-departure paperwork had not mentioned any of this and, surprisingly, even our Fodor's guidebook didn't touch upon this, which was rather maddening. The inflation rate in Argentina has been extremely high for well over 10 years, consistently ranging from between 30 and 60 percent. Efforts to turn the tide by pegging the Argentinian peso to the dollar have not worked, yet the official change rate is still set in that manner. Meanwhile, there is a parallel "non-official" exchange rate, called the "blue dollar economy," which is completely legal. With this, you can exchange physical US dollars for pesos at a rate essentially double the official rate. You can also pay for most items in stores in dollars and get the much better exchange rate. The blue dollar rate is even published daily. We did not know this, though, and per standard travel procedure and earlier guidance, we did not bring alot cash. We have always relied on either using our credit card or taking local currency out via an ATM. In Argentina, however, all credit card and ATM transactions are calculated at the official rate, which makes things as expensive, if not more so, than they would be in the United States. If you have dollars with you, however, things can be a real bargain. Alas, we didn't have a lot of cash with us. We did change some of what we had, and used the rest in store and restaurant transactions, but soon exhausted our supply. Later in the trip, we passed up several things we might otherwise have purchased, as we would have to use the official exchange rate, and it simply wasn't worth it. Everyone in our group agreed that we were disappointed to not know this in advance. I should add, too, that Argentina is the only country I have visited where prices (in menus and in stores) are written in pencil, as they are so often changed.

Very Dry Climate on the Argentinian Side of the Border

As I wrote, we were to spend the next three nights in the Alpine-like village of El Calafate, with about 6,000 full-time residents. There were, however, lots of tourists. El Calafate serves as the gateway to the Argentinian ice fields and glaciers and, as such, there were adventure seekers and tourists filling the hotels and hostels. While it was not crowded, it certainly felt like a much larger town, and there was a very nice main street full of nice restaurants, bars, and shops. As we had also seen in Chile, there was a notable German influence in the town. Lots of German names and Teutonic-looking architecture. Our hotel -- the Kosten Aike -- was a perfect example of such, inside and out.

Our German-Influence Hotel in El Calafate

As we were in Argentina, we felt obliged to seek out a steak dinner. We had already been told that Argentines eat their dinners very late, so that we shouldn't need reservations if we went out earlier. Most restaurants don't even open until 7:00pm. We found a nice-looking steakhouse, which was empty when we arrived shortly after 7. Within 30 minutes, every table was full and there was a line outside, waiting to get in. While it was true that Argentines don't eat until later, all of the foreign tourists in town wanted to eat early, so we were happy we got in when we did. The meal was good but, as would the case with every meal we subsequently had in Argentina, the portions were ridiculously and unnecessarily large. We had fortunately been forewarned that, despite being a country world-renowned for the quality of their beef, Argentines prefer their steak well done. We'd been told that even if we ordered beef medium, we should expect it to be overcooked. This was very helpful advice.

During our short walk from our hotel up to the main thoroughfare and our dinner restaurant, we noted large numbers of loose dogs. They were clean and wore collars, but they were clearly living outside. Technically wild dogs, I suppose, they displayed no signs of being feral. In fact, they were docile and friendly. We soon understood why they were that way. With all of the restaurants in town, particularly the steakhouses, and the huge portions, all of the leftover meals (bones, meat, etc.) are given to the dogs. They've become used to it. We learned that every restaurant would offer to box up any leftovers, with the expectation that you would feed the dog(s) of your choice later. While seeing and petting the dogs was nice, I can't claim that I love the situation. The dogs are collared and neutered/spayed, but I would much prefer to see them living with families, indoors, than living a life of begging.