Long drive to El Calafate

Friday -Well we didn't get away very early today since it was haircut day! LOL!! So got out the clippers and scissors and after cutting my hair I gave Dwayne a haircut.  We both needed a trim :)  So by the time we got that done and showered it was already 11.  But that's fine, we have no place to be today at any certain time 😂

As we head out we stop and pick a bunch of plums from a tree not far from where we were parked. There were also lots of blackberries but I couldn't reach the big ripe ones :(  The lower ones were to small.  And if you've picked blackberries before you know you can't just lean in and reach!  Those bushes love to scratch  up pickers and make them bleed!!

So back on Ruta 40 heading south. Nothing really coming up for us to see until we get near El Calafate where we'll be able to see lots of glaciers and hopefully get up close to them, but those are still a couple of days away - 1200kms.  And unfortunately we have lost the beautiful pine tree covered mountains for the pampas - grazing for cattle, sheep and horses. Also finally saw some black necked swans - very pretty

Lots of planted evergreens in this area 

So beautiful!!

Thought I would add some pics of the local RVers :) 

At the end of the day we find a spot near a small stream, and funny thing was as we drive into the spot a van follows us in and Dwayne says, think we'll have company tonight. What?? This close to us??  We stop and Dwayne goes and checks out the area and then a guy from the van comes out and we start talking. Doesn't take long for me to figure out he must be a Dutchy - and he was. He and his wife and 18 month old son are travelling in a camper van they rented in Buenos Aires and are travelling to the same area we are where they will drop off the van and then fly to Colombia. Ok since they are Dutchies they can park close LOL!! But as it turns out the camping area is on the other side of the stream so we both head over there and find there is lots of space for camping. There are a couple of families down there now enjoying the afternoon.  So we drive down and find spots for the night and then have a beer together and chat. They are on a 3 month holiday, he quit his job since his boss wouldn't give him 3 months leave, but he is a butcher and says he won't have trouble getting another job, but it just might not be as close as his last one where he could just ride his bike to work. His wife gets 1 day a week off from her job for childcare so she lumped 3 months together to get her time off. They have done a lot of backpacking before baby arrived thru Asian, New Zealand and then last year they rented a motorhome in Vancouver with baby and spent 3 weeks in BC and AB.  These two work to travel :)  Smart way to go. 

Next morning they get started before we do but I'm pretty sure we will meet up again. I had asked why they aren't going to the end of the world Ushuaia when they are so close, just time since they just have the van for 3 weeks and that cost the 5000 euros! $7500C - and they have had problems with it so not very happy. They really liked their rental motorhome last year in Canada, cheaper and bigger than this one. 

When we wake up I hear this banging that sounds like someone chopping a tree down. I look out the window and a bunch of sheep are close by and I can see a couple of them in the distance ramming heads!! They do this for quite awhile and then walk away LOL!! I'm sure with headaches 😂  A little while later a couple more starting ramming heads. 

Must be a Shar pei Sheep 😂 Look at the folds in his neck

Then it was like another day of driving thru Saskatchewan "where you can watch your dog run away for 3 days" LOL!!!! But we did get to see some guanacos and rheas, those big ostrich type birds. Oh and about 5 rusted our cars just left in the ditch!

Nothing to see for MILES!!!!

Had to watch for lots of guanacos crossing the highway

Really??? Just left in the ditch, not even hidden by trees??

Saturday - We didn't get as far as I had hoped today because the highway was pretty bad, lots of pot holes so that really slowed us down.  For the night we find a spot just off the highway. After we park Dwayne starts working on the fridge again- it's not working very well. The freezer is ok but the fridge part is not getting cold :(  
Nice sunrise this morning before we hit the road again. 

Sunday - we drive 2 hours to the next town so Dwayne can take the fridge out try the fix again by rolling it on it's side and back to the otherside.  Then put in back into Vanna and wait and hour before starting it up again.  I wanted him to do it in the next town so I could at least have internet while he was working. But they only have 3G internet here, not enough for me to upload my pictures to my blog - need 4G, so I read instead :) 

Finally starting to see some snowcapped mountains way off in the distance 

Tribute to gaucho and his dog 

Once he was done that we head out and about 15 kms later we end up being on a gravel road! And this is the only way to get to El Calafate so now we will really be going slow because the road is just a washboard and also had large rocks, crazy!! Especially since there is a fair amount of traffic on this Ruta 40!  This gravel lasts about 100kms! Dwayne says they should at least use a gravel crusher!! 

So we end up finally getting into El Calafate around 7pm.  Time for me to make a quick pizza in the pan for supper after finding our spot for tonight at the closed Tourist office. It will be out of the wind at least. The drive today was pretty rough at times because of high winds. 

Beautiful Lago Argentino - El Calafate is across the lake 

Glacier National park in the background

Today we will finally see Glacier Perito Moreno 😊