El Calafate – Dec 2025

After a good nights sleep on a comfortable mattress (for a change from the previous couple of nights!), it was a bit chaotic at the bus station the next morning. As it turned out, because we were taking a bus across the border (Chile to Argentina) we needed to check-in and have all our paperwork checked. Normally with the buses nothing like that is required – and of course no one was expecting it, so we were all queued up at the last minute. If we’d been told about this in advance then I’m sure most people would have arrived a bit earlier and we would have got away on time!

We crossed the border pretty early on, then had several hours of driving, including a lunch stop. We’d read so much information that suggested Argentina only operated on cash so I was pleasantly surprised to find I could buy lunch with my credit card despite being in a tiny ‘town’ in the deep south. I’d booked the bus tickets well in advance so we had the front seats on the second floor of the bus – which meant good views. We got into El Calafate about an hour later than scheduled. The baggage handler got pretty surly when we didn’t tip – but what were we supposed to do, we’d just arrived in the country and had no currency.

The 10 minute walk to the accommodation seemed a lot longer in the sun, and all our gear. We were a bit shocked to find the heater was on in our apartment given how warm it was – and apparently no way to turn it off. We hadn’t thought through what arriving in a Sunday might mean for currency exchange – unsurprisingly none of the Western Unions were open, and no luck with any of the shops that were mentioned online for potentially changing money. So, with no pesos, we found a great Korean restaurant (of all cuisines!?) where we could pay for dinner by credit card. Though, to be honest, it seemed credit card was probably accepted in most places – but we had no capacity to tip (since this was generally only able to be done in cash).

The next day we got picked up for our tour to Perito Moreno Glacier. I’d just booked the cheapest tour we could find, since all we really wanted was transport to and from the park. There were 16 of us in a minivan, with a somewhat odd guide. We weren’t really sure what he thought about things when he started suggesting we needed to search the dark web to find out the truth about climate change…?

We were given 1.75 hours to explore the board walks, and then those of us who’d opted for the boat trip got taken down to the pier for that. We’d thought the boat trip would help give us perspective on just how big the glacier is. But even from the boat we failed to get a sense of perspective. We were the last ones on board for the boat (since our eccentric guide had got distracted destroying loose tiles … don’t ask), but this turned out to be a genius move, as we all had to be in the cabin for departing the pier, but shortly after we were allowed on deck. As we were the last in, we were then the first out on the deck so got spots next to the rails with good views. It was pretty chaotic on deck!

Back in town, being Monday, we managed to change some money at Western Union. That brought a sense of relief, even if we hadn’t managed to get the best rate.

The following day we slogged back to the bus station for our next bus trip to El Chalten. Fortunately this time I avoided the surliness from the baggage handler since we had some cash to tip him!