Argentinian Patagonia : Perito Moreno
A travelogue from Argentinian Patagonia
Previously on LatAm Diaries: Patagonia: Chile to Argentina
Entry into Argentina has been rocky. The bus ride left me nauseous at the El Calafate bus station. Our lunch left me befuddled about the currency rates in Argentina — did my 24.9k ARS lunch cost me 62EUR as the official conversion says, or 26EUR as my credit card transactions say? And the cold night caught me defenseless with a broken radiator.
But every day is a new day, and today is clear and sunny. As a clue to our currency confusion, Sabarish reads about the double exchange rates in Argentina. There’s an official rate (1 USD = 350 ARS), making the currency look strong. And there’s an unofficial one or the blue rate (1 USD = 950 ARS). Fortunately for us, our visa card uses the blue rate. Argentina has a new government, with an explicit claim and clear mandate to curb inflation. One of its proposals is to have a unified rate, which seems like adopting the unofficial one. We’ll have to see how well that will work out.
We have breakfast, pack our sandwiches and head to Perito Moreno Glacier. It’s part of the southern Patagonian icefield and is one of the few non-retreating glaciers in the world. Unlike Grey Glacier or Viedma Glacier, close viewpoints to this one are easily accessible via road, and doesn’t require a cruise.
Drive to Perito Moreno is halfway along Lago Argentina, through vast stretches with very little greenery. With Chilean Patagonia fresh in mind with its lush green vegetation, the desert landscape is oppressive.
After 1.5 hours we see another lake, a little greyish, surrounded by pointed mountains. The vegetation is shrubs, some with red flowers — the firebushes. Deeper into the park, the variety of flowers expands to also cover yellow, and violet none of which I recognize. At some point, we see the valley between two mountains fully white, as if covered in cloud or mist. Just as we make the turn to the first viewpoint, we realize that’s the magnificent glacier.
At 4.4km in width and 70m in height, it’s a massive glacial field. The glacier flows between pointed mountains; I can count up to 5 tributaries merging in the center. But there might be more beyond my field of vision. The glacier appears like large pointed boulders stacked next to each other.
On one side of the glacier is the turquoise Lago Argentina. The other side has the grey Brazo Rico. Both of these merge in the glacial rupture zone. The glacier often advances far enough to act as a dam between Brazo Rico & Lago Gray. When the water level in Brazo Rico thus rises far enough, it breaks down the dam and merges with Lago Gray. This cyclical process also contributes to the vegetation around Brazo Rico.
From the visitor center, there are walkways built next to the glacier, letting us get close to it. We walk around, stay awhile to watch a few glacial calving, and head to a picnic bench to eat our sandwich. Just as we finish our sandwich, we spot a South American Gray Fox loitering in the picnic areas. It ran away in a jiffy. But after some time, we spot the same fox in the parking area, looking around humans for food.
Near the park exit, the Brazo Rico empties itself into a colorful desert landscape alternating between red, yellow, and olive green. The mountain terrain on one side of the lake is deserted, with no vegetation. The other side, where I was standing, was green, with trees, bushes, shrubs, flowers, and rivers. I hadn’t noticed the distinction on my onward journey, but I now recognize how the muddy unassuming lake is responsible for this phenomenon.
We are driving to El Chalten tomorrow, and a couple of our entry tickets are cash only. So, we decided to stop at the Western Union to get some cash without confusion on exchange rates. They don’t let us withdraw anything; we can only exchange whatever USD or EUR we already have. Sabarish exchanges the 40 EUR he had on him and comes back with a wad of cash struggling to stuff in his wallet; that was 48000 Argentinian Pesos. To limit inflation, the ATMs restrict withdrawals beyond 15k ARS, and since ours is an international card, each transaction also comes with an additional fee of 5k per withdrawal.
We come back to our Airbnb not too late in the evening. The technician arrived, twiddled with the radiator knobs himself, and left without hope. So, we have no heat today either. I try to plug in the portable heater. Every time I turn it on, the main line of the electric control board trips. I don’t know how it worked yesterday. But I’m glad we at least have those additional blankets.
Portal to El Chalten
The day is cloudier than yesterday. After a broken radiator, and later, a broken portable heater, I realize that there’s no more hot water in the pipe either. But since we are checking out today, I think I’ll just inform the host and leave. It’s not worth the bother of getting it repaired.
I take the vegetable patties out of the freezer to make our lunch. The patties are stuck to each other, so I try to knife them apart. But before I know it, I am knifing my left thumb. The cut is deep and I struggle to keep the bleeding at bay. The first-aid kit is handy but only so much.
When Sabarish had bought the first-aid kit years back, I had given him a stupidly hard time. I couldn’t see why we needed that pouch of stuff we’ll never use. We weren’t kids anymore to fall somewhere and bruise our knees. I couldn’t remember the last time I had to use Betadine or Soframycin. But the irony is that I get to use it now. Sabarish takes over all that’s remaining — cooking, cleaning, packing — and checks with our host on the best clinic or hospital to get it dressed.
The general hospital is 7 km away, and we get there around 10.30 am. The lady at the info desk speaks English and sends us to the emergency. The guy at the emergency speaks no English, but he makes up for it using a translator app. He types in Spanish and I type in English. He patiently fills the form in this archaic mode of communication.
We waited in front of the doctor’s office for an hour before called. During that hour three patients with broken arms and a convict in handcuffs passed through the door. Finally, when the doctor untied my DIY Band-Aid, he lets me know that I’d need a stitch. He speaks a little English; very rusty and slow, but we can manage. Around what time did I hurt the finger? Can I feel his touch on the finger or does it seem like the nerve might be injured too? Do I have any problems with Anesthesia? Do I have a penicillin allergy? He meticulously goes through the requisite info-gathering before dressing my wound — anesthesia, clean, stitch, clean, and dress.
The wound was an unnecessary complication and wasted 3 hours of our day. But by noon we are good to go. I’m extremely grateful and impressed by the helpfulness of the folks in the hospital. Even when they knew no English or weren’t comfortable enough to converse in it, they did all they could to help us. This kindness has become a rare commodity in the world.
My choices of stupid frugality or frupidity are coming home to roost today. I had declined to add an additional driver for our rental car since that would incur us 4 euros extra per day. In all our trips, I’m always the driver among us and I didn’t see a reason to plan around contingencies. That meant even when my thumb was bleeding uncontrollably, I had to drive. So, once I got the stitches, Sabarish decided to veto the frupidity and added himself as an additional driver. The wheel was going to be his to hold for the next few days. It feels like the tornado insurance. It’s totally useless until that one time.
El Chalten, where we are headed, is the hiking capital of Argentina. But from what I hear, cash is king there, but the ATMs don’t work. So we need to withdraw some cash before leaving El Calafate. But the irony of cash withdrawals and transaction fees remains, and we leave with that wad of pesos bulging out of Sabarish’s wallet.
This is part of a series of travelogues. Coming next: Argentinian Patagonia — El Chalten
