Whirlwind

La Hosteria Alta Vista

On day three in BA we rushed from bed down to breakfast at the Sofitel and then quickly off to a guided tour of the city. We mostly hit places we'd already been, but we added the neighborhood of La Boca and got the inside scoop on some of the local buildings. La Boca is an interesting old blue collar neighborhood that is completely rundown besides the touristy district where all the buildings are painted with outrageous portland-style purple and blue colors. The poverty was impressive but honestly the homeless are so ubiquitous in Portland that it wasn't all that shocking to see a guy living below a bridge with his two dogs. The main difference was in the roofless and fallen-down houses that people were living in.

From the city tour we scuttled off to a small airport in BA which took us through Bariloche to El Califate. These are in northern and southern Patagonia and are about two and four hours away from BA, respectively. For reference, El califate is at about 52 degrees latitude. You do the math. From the airport, our driver and guide, Natalia, took us to the Hosteria Alta Vista, a small ranch hotel with six rooms set on 150,000 acres. El Calafate is a town set on an immense glacial lake which drives the tourist economy. Califate has tons of climbing and "trekking" shops as well as tourist infrastructure of restaurants and hotels. Our ranch is 60km from town on a mix of paved and dirt roads, and is set back into the hills with amazing views of the surrounding prarie land, foothills, and mountains. Probably 15km away you can see up to Moreno glacier and the tips of the Torres de Paine (Towers of Pain) which are the craggy mountains on the Chilean side of the Andes. The mountains in Patagonia are less craggy but still immense.

The days are blurring together as this is now the third day here, but we have seen non-stop action. We arrived at around 7pm on the 23rd and came to the ranch to get settled in and have some food. We were introduced to the staff--most notably our hosts Fredrico and Tamara--and the golfing wannabe-bourgeseois chodes from Baltimore that were alreday staying here. Dinner was some fantastic savory crepes filled with spinach and ricotta, and dessert was a frozen creme dish with a cookie bottom. I took some pictures:

Savory Crepes

Frozen Cream Dessert

All of the food here has been immaculately prepared but a little bit bland. I think they're just not as into salt and pepper as we are, but the shaker and grinder brought out the intense flavors at every meal. I have been thoroughly pigging out!!

More on Day Two soon!