The non El Chatlen day

My initial plan today had been to hire a car and drive up to El Chatlén (a small town around 250km north of El Calafate with apparently beautiful scenery and the best hiking in Argentina), but when I went along this morning to price rentals they informed me of the "400km clause" (which is the distance I would end up driving over) which adds a considerable premium to the base price.

So whereas a normal rental (limited to 250km ... basically just enough to drive around the El Calafate region) would be around USD 60, to drive to El Chatlén, I'd need to spend around USD 100. Not really worth it when you consider I'd only have about 3 hours once I finally got there, before I'd need to head back to El Calafate to pick up my laundry before the place shuts at 8! (I need the laundry for tomorrows big "GLACIER TREK"!)

Soooo today was really a non-event day (I did wander around town and also walked along the lagoon with a few flamingoes, but really El Calafate town has little going on of note). Beneficial in some ways, though, as it gives me time to upload the latest photos and update my Ushuaia blog! (I'm sitting on dusty ground outside some abandoned office, stealing wifi from the café downstairs ... hell otherwise I'd have to buy a coffee damnit)

The people in these frontier towns in Argentina (Ushuaia and now El Calafate) share something in common which is a particular trait I've found to be alien in practically every other South American country I've been in... well maybe not Colombia: people here aren't particularly friendly. As you walk about town, you often get people staring at you with suspicion, plus I've dealt with more than a fair share of rude shopkeepers/waiters (never mind the crazy landlady I met in a hospedaje yesterday ... I'll write more detail in yesterday's entry...)

I certainly hope this is just down to tourist-weariness in a small town rather than a standard for how most Argentinians behave...