June 20th - The Ghost Town

El Calafate -

I set out in the morning to explore the town. What I found out was pretty much what I saw the previous day at 5pm. Empty roads. I walked towards the bird sanctuary “Laguna Nimez” and for most of the time, my only street companions were 5 dogs who were following me and jumping up on me to be patted. The sanctuary was closed and so was the town museum. I did however enjoy the walk on the edge of the lago Argentino, the third largest lake in South America, with a view of the white peaks on the other side.

El Calafate is named after a flower which can only be seen for 2 months during the year. It is kind of a desert town. The wind blows from the pacific and gets stopped by the Andes and so El Calafate hardly receives any rainfall throughout the year, which explains the brown mountains. It is cold, but dry. And, so bearable.

I had a very nice dinner with a few hostel mates, where we had pasta and ice cream. Since I was invited and didn't get to help in the preparation, I was the designated dish washer.