El Calafate (Argentina) to Coyhaique (Chile) by land

If you are struggling to get around Patagonia I hope this information will help. We couldn't find much info on the web before we travelled.

• El Chalten - Los Antiguos (1000 ARS pp). Bus takes 12 hours with Chaltentravel. You should book in advance, as it always sells out. There is 2 buses a day that both leave in the evening and travel through the night.

• Los Antiguos - Chile Chico (5.000 CLP pp). Bus takes half an hour including the border crossing and you can get it right at the bus station where you're dropped off.

• Chile Chico - Puerto Ibanez (2.100 CLP pp). Ferry takes 2 hours to reach the other side of the lake, you book it at the port. You can also buy tickets to Coyhaique from here.

• Puerto Ibanez - Coyhaique (5.000 CLP pp). Bus takes one and a half hours and picks you up at the port where you arrive, check the company before you get on. You can buy in advance or just get on a bus that has spare seats.

• If from Coyhaique you want to get to Puerto Tranquilo, this costs 9.000 CLP pp and it takes 4 hours every morning from the bus terminal in town. There are several companies, including Aguilas Patagonicas

El Calafate. Argentina 16-17.12.15

We arrived in El Calafate the 16th in the evening, at around 17:30. The airport of El Calafate is really small and there were only a few stands for tours, buses and taxis. We didn't know what we were doing so we approached the stand of buses into El Calafate city and we were told that to go into the national park we had to book a tour for the following day at 9 am, which would cost us 450 pesos each for the bus to go and to come back plus a bilingual guide. We have never been big fans of organised tours, and we were unsure but we were convinced by the seller that told us we wouldn't find anything cheaper to see the glacier, and she also got us in contact with a camp site as they would pick us up from our accommodation.

We booked the bus into the city and had to wait for an hour and a half for it, since the last one had already left, full of the other passengers in our plane. We finally got on the combi and went to the camping site "el ovejero" where we spent the night in our tent. The camp site was muddy due to the rain and our shoes were covered in dirt, but we found that in different conditions, the camping would have been quite comfortable.

We went out that evening to see the town and have some dinner. The town looks the way you'd expect it to look: tidy and cute and all made to entertain the thousands and thousands of tourists that visit every year. It doesn't go dark in summer until past 10 pm, but it is still windy and cold all day. Regardless, we had some dinner followed by ice cream.

The next day we woke up early, we had to book our next bit of transport with the hotel reception and wait for our tour bus to go to Perito Moreno. The bus was 15 minutes late and after picking the other passengers up from their fancy-looking hotels, we started making our way to the glacier.

We stopped at a viewpoint of the Argentinian lake and got told it was that colour because of the sediments that the glacier left on its recession. We took some pictures there and then went into the national park which cost us 260 pesos per person. At the national park, the van drove 20 more minutes before getting to the front of the glacier.

We were the only ones on the bus at this point, since everyone else got off to get a boat ride in front of the glacier, but for an hour of ride we thought it was a bit pricey.

We did part of the trails marked on the route, but we didnt complete any trails since we were too busy trying to see detachments of ice, which were happening regularly. We stopped at the front and managed to see some small blocks of ice sliding into the water, nothing major. The Perito Moreno glacier is the only one of that range that loses the same amount of ice than it gets every day.

When you get to the Perito Moreno, be sure to have enough cash with you, there are no ATMs at the site or money exchange and there's a restaurant and a gift shop there. We were hungry and had no food with us and very little cash, which was enough for two empanadas and a pack of rocklets, we went a little hungry but we still enjoyed the site.

We were back to the hostel at around 5 pm and left el Calafate by bus.

Ushuaia. Argentina 15.12.15

Ushuaia is the southernmost city in the world, it hosted the first same sex marriage in Argentina and it hasn't got a lot of population but the town is prepared for tourism and receive thousands every summer.
We arrived in Ushuaia early in the morning and it took us a long time to find an ATM that would work with our card, but once we did, we took a "combi" (a 17 seat bus) to the national park. The return on the combi costs 300 pesos each and the entry to the national park 170. You can camp in the national park. We stayed in an organised camping for 200 pesos the two of us and you can use toilets and barbecue facilities but you have the option of free camping, there are three areas of free camping and the bus will leave you right at the entrance of these places.

The national park is famous for trekking and it has 4 different trails. All except one of the trails are moderate difficulty, but we recommend that you take appropiate gear and a warm coat, the average temperature in summer is 9 degrees.

We did parts of two trails, walked for about four and a half hours. We did part of the cerro guanaco trail which is the difficult one, and we don't recommend you do this unless you are fit enough and you're fine with walking a really steep trail (the reason why I didn't want to finish it).

Allow two or three days depending on your fitness to do the whole national park by foot. More if you are not happy about walking several hours. Take food and drink from the town centre, because in the park every option is expensive.

If you camp be aware there are animals in the park. During the night we were awaken by wild horses galloping near our tent, and in the morning by falcons. You will also see foxes that don't mind being near humans, but don't feed them! It's in the rules of the park.

Buenos Aires. Argentina 8-14.12.15

We stayed in Buenos Aires for six days, where we saw different areas of the city, so rather than a chronological description, this will be a description by place.
But first things first, Argentina is a mainly Catholic country and upon arrival we were unable to take money out of an ATM. We arrived on Tuesday the 8th of December (a Catholic holiday) and no one had been to work for four days, including the responsibles of filling the ATMs with money, so keep it in mind for any long weekends in BA.
The first two nights of our stay, we were close to the Congress and the political centre of the city, all this area and Plaza de Mayo were crowded with people for the election of the new president. But after the 10th, everything went back to normal and it becomes a really good place to picture and have a picnic. You can see the building where the Pope used to live before he moved to the Vatican, and several other buildings of interest around.

During our next four nights in BA we did couchsurfing with Fede and Cristen, a lovely couple who spent all their free time showing us the charms of the city.

San Telmo, an area full of nice little restaurants, the walk of comics and lots of antique shops is very famous with tourists and if you sit down to have lunch at the main square, like we did, you will be delighted by a tango show. It will be more expensive than other areas since it is specifically prepared for tourists but it is still worth a visit.

Puerto Madero is the most expensive area of Buenos Aires, this business centre has got a museum on a boat that used to go on expeditions to Antartica, streets named after important women of the history of Argentina and a nice little avenue with cafes and ice cream shops.

Recoleta is where the wealthy people live, after Puerto Madero of course, you can recognise this area by the buildings and the people and also by the cemetery which is a tourist attraction!

And Palermo, one of the best areas for nightlife and food, the place sounds Italian, tastes Italian but it contains all the beauty and friendliness of Argentina. In Palermo you will go to the botanical gardens, where you can appreciate different types of roses, you can have a picnic, take a ride on a horse and carriage, go roller skating or take a paddle boat on the river.

In Buenos Aires you can get around by walking or taking the metro (subte), but taxis aren't too expensive, especially if you tell them the way you want to go.

C.A. Talleres 0 v 0 Central Cordoba. Talleres Remedios de Escalada. 8.13.15

We got a taxi to the southof Buenos Aires,  to an area called Lanus where the taxi driver told us to be careful. We had to buy tickets out of the back of a van at 150 pesos each, which isn't bad being a second leg play off final to the promotion from the 4th tier of Argentinian football.

We were two hours early for the game but even this early the atmosphere was great. C.A Talleres was taking a 1-0 lead into the game.

Kick off was soon upon us under the blistering heat and C.A Talleres seemed like they were hungry for promotion with hard tackles and a high work race.

Atmosphere was great throughout the match but the result was a stale mate 0-0 with either teams not creating too many clear cut chances.

The final whistle went and some C.A Talleres fans invaded the pitch to celebrate promotion with the players. Attendance was 10.000