Day 382 Monday 1st December El Calafate to Storage, to the Glacier Park and back to Hotel 176km

Yesterday a photo of Dog kissing the Tar road after the Bastard Road emerged, he said it was not just a symbolic kiss, but a proper open-mouth kiss as he was also, like me, very glad when the gravel with its marbled-stone-sections ended.

Peens collapsed into his bed yesterday when we arrived at our hotel, and now, 28 hours later, he has still not come out of our room, well, now it is his room, as I quickly got myself my own room yesterday when I saw how sick he was. He got the flu from Millsy, who was coughing at the beginning of the trip. He blamed this on his lovely wife Jax who gave it to him in Texas during Tex’s 70th Birthday Party. So my room mate, who slept with his coughing face very close to me for 3 nights, was offered Antibiotics from my little Medical Bag, but I think that he saw the state of the Strepsil’s Throat Tablets I gave Millsy (all of the 12 tablets had melted into one big chunk of yellow tablet, needing a knife to cut your mouth-size part off before sucking the “wool” off the sides, before getting to any throat-soothing as it had shook out of its packaging a few countries ago already. This morning during breakfast we decided to give the Antibiotics to Peens after Doctor Google said it “should maybe” work.

Last night we went for a stroll through town and up the hill to a look-out-point. There were a few locals with a Speaker in the park and they were doing the Samba and Latin American Dancing, stopping to sip their Mate Tea and just socializing, young and old dancing and swapping dance-partners. The older women knew their moves and still knew how to swing their hips in spite of being much older than the others, some were youngsters.

We had a real lunch that included cutlery and did not consist of Empanadas, so we were not very hungry and shared  2 Pizzas, that were not very good, too much cheese, not a proper dough used and done in an electric oven, typical Tourist Sausage Machine Restaurant. but the little town has a vibe and was buzzing with Argentinian Soccer Supporters as there was a big game being shown on all the TV’s in town.

The specialty of this area is a selection of meat grilled on the grill with a few slices of Lamb, from a spit in the restaurant, in a seperate little room, like a Sauna inside I suppose for the poor chef that enters the Braai Room and then cut the meat, he also grills the other meats inside this room.

There are many curios shops selling a selection of things, like below, some cups for your Mate Tea on sale.

This morning I discovered that the others sneaked off yesterday while I was doing the Blog, (and Peens was having hot and cold sweats,) and went to wash their bikes, something we always do together, like a Closing Ceremony, so I will make a plan to clean my bike maybe tomorrow???? Thus no photos today of our resident plumber bending over to high-pressure-hose-wash his bike.

Then we went to hand in our Laundry to be washed.

Then the remaining 6 of us went to the Storage Man to see if it was what we thought it would be-like from reading it on the Internet. Once again Rocky’s Detective Skills were spot on and we imidiately  knew that it was the perfect place to store the bikes for the next 2 months. There was even a workshop where a a Machanic was working on some motorbikes. There were other vehicles in storage as well and even some Adventure Bike Tour Operators had a few bikes there on trailers. We found many bikers would rent a bike in Chile and then ride it to Ushuaia, leave the bike there and fly out, while the Tour Operator then take the bikes back to Santiago for the next group to ride. They work out your itinerary for you, do your hotel bookings, you just arrive and ride. Below all brand new model BMW 1300,

See the state of the Trailer’s Wheel’s rim above.

The owner of the Storage then made a list of all the tyres he would order and have them fitted. I wanted to get his Machanic to fit new Fork Seals and oil to my two front forks, but Pie said he looked at the quality of the workmanship of the Machanic and that he was not good enough for doing such a skilled job “properly,” he said I must bring the right oil and seals on the next Leg, (the seals we have are for the 990’s and not the 1190’s) and that between him and Peens they would fit them at the beginning of the next leg.

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See the state of Millsy’s back tyre above, hy is klaar !!!!

I have been to El Calafate with my family about 13 years ago. We did 4 things at the glaciers. We walked on the Metal Walk Ways looking at the one Glacier, Perito Moreno, (our group did this today.) We also took a boat ride up to the glacier and saw how pieces breaks off and thunders into the water, making huge sounds and a large wave. We did a trek next to the glacier and then fourthly we walked on the glacier with metal cramp-ons on our shoes, following a guide along a path on top of the glacier until he stopped, chopped some ice with is ax, and then served us a whisky in a crystal glass with glacier ice.

I tried to sell this to the group, but the trip is over, my Route has come to an end and now everyone has their own plan and idea, and I just decided to sit back and follow their lead, I have seen everything when I was here with the family,  no loss to me. So when I got them inside a Tour Operators Office last night and suggested once more we do the 4 things I did last time, plus add the one thing I did not do last time (a boat ride to 4 other glaciers,) Pie said that he did not want to spend 8 hours with old people on a boat. I almost had a Cadenza. HELLO, we are “old people” now. It is not like we are suckling on the breast of Youth anymore.

I kept on asking them, “so what is the plan?” Millsy and Tex are infamous for telling the group “The Plan is……no plan.” So I just backed off and let them choose their “Plan” for today. Trying to get them into a direction is like herding cats.

So a decision was taken to not take the comfortable bus this morning, not to get onto a boat (with old people,) and not to sail up to a glacier, and also not to be served a lunch, and also not to trek on the glacier, drink whisky on the glazier and also not walk next to the glacier.

Instead, the “Men without a Plan” decided not to fill up the bikes with fuel, not to put on full Riding Gear, and to ride  about 80km’s top the Glacier Park and then go to walk on the Walk Ways. This was a small plan to what I had in mind, but this was a very cheap plan that excluded any Tour Operator and a warm bus, and a lunch and a guide, proper Oros.

The Men Without Plan realized their error in not Having a Plan (and then plan according to the plan) when we arrived at the National Glazier Parks entrance, about 40km from the glazier, about 40km from El Calafate. Tex’s fuel light had come on (the 990’s have no fuel gauge, a light comes on when you have about 40km left in fuel,) and he then remembered that the fuel pump shut off automatically before his tank was full at the last fuel stop. We all then looked at our fuel and my bikes computer said I would just about make it up to the glazier and back to El Calafate. Numbers were crunched, calculations made, wind direction taken into account, and then the decision was to all just give Tex a few 100ml of fuel. Rocky, who went to studied at the University of “Think Out Of The Box “solved the problem for us by telling Tex to jump on the back of Pies bike as we would return the same way we came. So the situation went from certain failure due to no planning, to “maybe we can all make it back, but it would be close.”

So we continued without Tex’s bike:

I rest my case.

The glazier is about 70 meters high at the “face”

In 1899 the glazier’s “Snout” or face as I call it, was 750m away from the shoreline, and not moving closer, but then in 1917 it moved forward and reached the shores if the peninsula. The good news is that it has been in a steady state since then up to now.

This glazier covers an area of 254 square kilometer (remember that it goes up and around the mountain, not visible from here, 23km away.) The thickness of the ice has been measured and is 700m deep. The “snout” moves about 2m forward every day. While you are there you just have to wait and then you can see a big chunk of ice fall into the water, I saw one today. There are three sounds you hear.

1. The cracking and breaking sound when it breaks off from the main ice part.
2. Then a louder smack sound as it hits the water.
3. But by far the loudest sound is the bang you hear when the water, parted by the ice, slams back to fill the hole created by the ice and that sounds like a bomb going off.
4. 

Video :

IMG_9983

Let me report on the activity I can see from my position in the hotel reception:

The guys are running up and down collecting the laundry, Peens is still sleeping, we just drop off pills and water, chocolates and coke in his room while holding our breath. There is some activity at the bikes with the clean clothes being packed into the panniers as it all stays here with the bikes. Some of the younger guys are not seen, very absent in the late afternoon???? I had a report of a very affordable Lebanese Restaurant (just what you eat in Argentina if you are on a Oros Trip,) across the road from our hotel (no Braai or lamb or Asada there I guess.)

Usually I tell you a bit of our plan for the next day at this stage of the blog, but as I am now a follower and no longer a Cat Herder, I can’t tell you what our plans are. There are much more to do at the glazier, but I am not sure what  The Men Without Plan will dream up over our Lebanese Dinner. Pie was eyeing the Kayak Tour up to the face of the glazier, it sounds un-safe, but it is very safe as the Tour Operator knows there are no tourist who can actually row all the way up to the glazier, just too far, unless said tourist was part of the Rowing team at the last Olympics.

But let’s see. We have a whole day to fill  tomorrow. Wednesday we actually go and lock the bikes and hopefully have a Final Farewell lunch, hopefully eating lamb and Asada from a braai room before the 1st guys go to the airport late afternoon.

Chat in the Morrow my Pumpkins,

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Fleisch