Last night we went walking around our little town and stopped for a glass of wine at this lovely restaurant. We had to sit outside as the inside was fully booked for the evening. It was a very smart restaurant inside with linen Tablecloths and Serviettes, something I have missed and not seen in almost 3 weeks. There was a seating area around a glass window, on comfortable Bar Chairs from where some dinners could look inside at the chefs who was cooking and garnishing the plates, almost like a Chef’s Table we had in the olden days inside the 5 Star Hotels kitchens.

We sat and joked with each other, firstly we laughed at Pie and Tex who did not want to look at Peens’s Google Translate translation of the menu a few nights back and ended-up with Vegeterian Burgers when the rest had steak. And then Pie told us that he has phoned his lovely wife and asked her to look for his black thermal long-sleeve vest which he suspected was stolen (our go to,) or maybe she misplaced it, or his sister took his vest. The whole family in Dallas and in South Africa was looking for this lost or stolen vest, and when the sun shone on his black bag yesterday morning he found the vest neatly folded at the bottom of the black bag.

Some photos taken around our hotel :

Photo of our hotel, Hotel Upsala (built on the plans of a maze.

 

After our early Sun Downers (the Sun sets here only at 21h42,) we went to the Lebanese Restaurant next to out little hotel, and it turned out to be a very good meal, the father, and son, and brother, worked the front and the Grandmother, sister and mother was in the kitchen. In fact, it was so good I decided to do the Blog this afternoon from the restaurant and have ordered the Lebanese twist on the Empanada:

I think it is an international Empanada as it also incorporate the Indian Samoosa and the Icelandic Volcano Pie.

I am a little hungry as I only had a packet of chips and a coke for lunch.

This morning Peens stayed in bed for another day, I found him still lying in the foetal position, (the same position for the last 2 days,) this morning when I went to check on him. We did buy him a Shawarma last night which I dropped off with a Coke and a Chocolate.

The others decided to have their Broke Back Mountain Experience, (more about that later,) and I decided to take a boat. So after toast and jam and weak coffee, I set off on DadAss to the little Port from which all the boats left. I stopped for this photo and was almost blown off the bike. I now understand why many Bikers attempt to make it to Ushuaia but have to turn around as it is impossible to ride. I have seen YouTube videos of bikers blown off their bikes when the 100km wind gusts to 150km.

 

There were plenty of busses and taxis and a long line of tourist lining up to get onto three large boats. I put on my “helpless little lost puppy face” and asked the man with the badge if there were any space left on any of the boats, he kept asking if I had booked, I kept on saying I did not. Man with badge was rude and left me standing. So I saw a lady scanning the tickets and I put on my “Poor Lost Tourist Face” and caught her eye. She told me to wait for her. When the last person’s ticket had been scanned she came over and told me she still had space on the one boat and if I gave her my Passport (that was still hidden away in my Hotel Room) she could bring over a Credit Card Machine and I could get onto the boat. I switched back to Lost Puppy Face and showed her my ID Card, she checked with Man With Badge and he nodded, Visa played along and the next minute I was on the boat, with not an old person in sight!!!! With my luck changed (it must have changed on the day we rode the Bastard Road,) the entire boat was booked out to the Victoria Secrets Model Agency who has their World Conference in El Calafate this year.

I now wonder where in my room did I hide my Passport??????????? Any how, back to the Blog:

I realized that if Murphy had found me my luck was going to change again and I would know when our boat turned after we left the little harbour. If it turned left I was on a boat going back to the same Glacier we saw yesterday, if it turned right I was on the boat I was planning to get the guys to book on, (but Pie did not want to spend 7 hours with old people.) Murphy was not in sight and the boat turned right. Happy days!!!

There were lots of drift ice and the boat had to zig-zag between the ice bergs. Only 10% of the ice is above the water, 90% in submerged.

We stopped at several Glaciers at two main spots. First we went to the Spegazzini Glacier with several other Glaciers flowing down together along different “paths down the mountain.

Below is a Glacier that “dried up” :

Today we visited in the area I marked in Purple, yesterday we were at the section I marked in Red

Patagonia is the 3rd biggest Ice-Cap in the world, behind Antartica and Greenland. In this National Glacier Park there are 800 Glaciers. In the Santa Cruze Province of Argentina in which we are now, there are over 2000 Glaciers.

Above two glaciers meet.

The biggest Glacier :

We visited the Upsala Glacier, but we could not sail close to it was the wind was blowing and there were many “carved off” pieces of ice bergs drifting, the Captain said it was too dangerous.

I could take this “Panorama View” photo of Upsala, this glacier is 50km long !!!!!!

Some of the other Glaciers:

At lunch time the boats docked and we could go to a Cafeteria, and go on a Walk-way along the shore.

The blue means that there are no air-bubbles inside the ice.

While I was socialising with all the young people on my boat, Peens was still sleeping, and the rest were playing Broke Back Mountain, (you need to have seen this Movie to get this joke.) But like everything I write on this blog about my friends, it needs to be taken with a big spoon of salt.

But this little outing was not without its casualties :

No doubt there will be more funny walking tomorrow from the others.

And Pie discovered a more feminine side and embraced his little Broke Back Mountain Experience and made a new friend, (if he contacts any family, please let us know where we can find him, he has not been seen since this photo of him and his new “friend” was taken.)

Fact is stranger than fiction.

The problem with this Leg 22 was that there was no problem. I always work in an extra day or two in our Route Planning, I also put in a Rest Day, but on this trip nothing went wrong and we did not take a rest day. We did not loose a day due to a break-down or a difficult route we did not anticipate. Usually the Men Without Plan would tamper with my Route and send us on a Kronkel Road every now and then, and we would lose a day or two, but I also put in two days back to back that are very short, so lost days, or BIG Trouble days can be made up. But on this trip the roads were better than I thought they would be towards the end, and longer distances could be done. So, we arrived one day (or even two days) too early. If the storage was a problem we might have needed that extra day, and if we could find a KTM Dealer here we could have bought some spares and done some work on the bikes to prepare them, but as they say, it is what it are.

So we should just be thankful we have days in hand and did not find ourselves racing to get here and racing to make an International Flight. But tomorrow (Wednesday) everyone flies out, and by Thursday Pie might have been found and the two of us can fly out early Thursday morning.

And now I am off to a Braai Restaurant for some Asada and Spit Lamb, (but who knows, they guys might have decided on Waffles for dinner.) I see they sent me a Pin Location of where they are, maybe I should just check 1st what they serve there and if it is not Braai and Lamb, maybe I should join Pie and do my own Disappearing act.

Signing-Off

Fleisch