Patagonia El Calafate and Flamingos

Greetings from Patagonia, the southernmost point of my little trip. 

This morning, as I said, I got up at 4:30 am and went to Jorge Newbery domestic airport, easy 3-minute check-in because the Chinese avoided the fast lane. I must say, they were speedboarders 😉. Luckily, the plane wasn't full, so I had a whole row to myself. The Chinese guy tried to be clever but failed because the exit rows are always vacant here. He finally understood on the second try - they always stand out somehow. 

Landed 3 hours later, and my luggage was there (that's not always the case). However, the luggage of the nice Australian guy I chatted with was missing, which is especially bad when it contains all the equipment for 2 weeks of autonomous trekking. Good luck to him. 

Took a minibus to the Folk Hostel, dropped off my backpack, received a warm welcome from the receptionist, and since the room wasn't ready yet, I went to the town or village to withdraw money and rent a bicycle. For 10 euros, you could probably buy this bike in our country, but oh well. So I started pedaling and after 500 meters, I was already too heavy for the rear wheel, which had to work hard to stay off the asphalt. I briefly passed through the town and went to the lagoon at Lake Argentino (the largest lake in Argentina, about 3-4 times the size of Lake Constance) where the flamingos were supposed to be, and they were indeed there, along with ibises, ducks, and other birds. I played the ornithologist for a bit and took some pictures of the animals. Took a nice stroll along the 'promenade', inhaled a tasty lamb stew, and then headed back to the town from the back. And guess what? Today is the big game day for the country. So I went to a pub, had some beer, Boca was in the lead - everything was going well, but in the end, not as it should. Oh well, outside there was an immediate mega party, but here I am sitting again with Aussies at the table. Okay, there was also a Chilean Australian girl, and we talked about football, Rammstein, music, and in the end, yes, you guessed it, politics and the DDR.

I returned the bike and went back to the hostel on foot. Who lives here? That's right, the Australians. Am I still in the right place? Well, I showered and now I'm tapping away on my phone.

Tomorrow morning, I'll go to Perrito Moreno Glacier, unfortunately, I don't have enough time to cross the glacier because otherwise, I won't be able to catch the bus to El Chalten at 6:00 pm. So what - but who is crossing? Here's a tip, the country's name starts with an A. It's not Albania though. 

P. S. I still have to transfer some pictures from the camera - there's more to come. However, I'm not sure about the internet connection for the next 3 days.