20 November - El Calafate, Argentina to Puerto Natales, Chile
A dull breakfast (cornflakes again) but a bright morning as we walked laden with our baggage to the bus terminal in El Calafate. 20 pesos to be paid in departure tax. This is such an odd concept, throughout South America. You have to pay a tax for using the bus terminal, all the while wondering why, seeing as they are usually hell holes with gross toilets and a distinctly unpleasant smell. Still, pay it we did and collected our bus tickets in return. A five hour journey from El Calafate to Puerto Natales. Our last border crossing until we return to England! Argentina into Chile, our final country on our travels. The bus ride was fairly uneventful, other than border control taking forever and me accidentally whacking my head on a metal frame on my way back to the bus loo. Ouch. Our hostel was a taxi ride away, so we wandered around the bus terminal, looking for the taxi rank. There was only one taxi, oh, no! By chance, the girls getting into it had been on our shuttle the previous week and were headed in the same direction so we all got in together. Hurrah. And we could pay in Argentinian pesos. Double hurrah! Hostel Amerinidia was perfectly located: near the centre of town, a few minutes walk from the lake and round the corner from the Chile Nativo office, the agency we would be doing the W Trek with. Also: cakes galore. Hard to resist! We bought a simple late lunch from the supermarket and researched restaurants for dinner. Unfortunately, although the best restaurant in town was across from our hostel, it was fully booked for the evening. So instead we made a booking for Friday 25th November, a treat for our return from the W Trek, and went around the corner for dinner. After dinner, an epic repack of our bags. On the W Trek there are a few days when we have to carry all of our belongings. No porters on this trek! So we had to basically empty them and repack only what we would need, catering for every weather eventuality in the process. Exciting and a bit scary!
