Day 6 El Calafate - Trip to Lake Roca

Trip to Lake Roca

After the conference, we still had two more days left to spend in El Calafate.  Although we had booked two nights in a small hotel closer to the town, we had heard that a trip further north to a town called El Chanten was really worth doing because of the hill walking and beautiful mountain scenery.  As El Chanten was a 3 hr drive from El Calafate we finally decided to hire a car with Neil and Becky for the remaining two days.  We scheduled the trip to El Chanten for the second day and drove further south the first day to Lake Roca. On the way back to El Calafate we noticed what looked like ski lifts taking people further up the mountain side.  We stopped to investigate and found that the ski lifts were taking people to the top of the mountain so that they could come down on mountain bikes!  We didn’t try this. We did, however, have  a lovely day at Lake Roca.  We opened a bottle of wine, had a picnic, strolled in the meadows and were lucky to see a herd of horses stroll down to the water’s edge to drink.

Day 5 Calafate - Horse riding

20th February

This morning, Becky and I decided to try some horse riding and, perhaps a little rashly on my part, booked to go for a 2 hr ride.  How I actually managed to do this, I am still not quite sure.  Charlie, my horse was very well behaved most of the time, but did, occasionally decide he would just stop and grab a quick snack of mouthful of grass before unexpectedly bursting into a quick trot to catch up with the other horses.  Becky, who has more experience of riding (her father was a jocky, I found out later!) could not contain her amusement on certain occasions.  I have not included her mischievous pictures of my attempts at dignified mounting and dismounting.  I did manage to stay on for the 2 hrs and just loved the experience of riding in the open countryside.  A perfect way to view the open countryside, including the mountains and lakes.  Of course, I was not able to capture these moments because I was having to hold on fairly firmly, (Unlike Becky, who seemed to be able to ride one handed and take photos at the same time.

Setting off from the ranch house close to the lakeside

 

Becky looking very confident

 

Me, looking less confident.  It was a big horse!

Setting off

The 3 amigos

 

Enjoying the spectacular view

Back at the ranch house after 2hrs riding

Dogs just chilling out

 

 

 

 

 

The owner and one of our escorts

Sharing Mate back at the ranch house

Yes, that is a drink - I'm not smoking anything!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 4 Conference Dinner, Lamb and Tango

19th February (evening) - The Conference Dinner

When we turned up for the conference dinner, dinner was already on display

Hungry after his long walk, Elwyn was ready to get started - but there was wine tasting to do first.

Despite his clear enthusiasm to engage in cultural exchange, Elwyn felt it best to explain the concept of wine tasting to Young Jeung just one more time.

Although there was clearly plenty of wine to taste!

Getting the hang of it now!

The wine tasting in full swing.

Queuing up for a barbecue.  No lamb yet, but tasty sausages with salsa were proving very popular

This Argentinian folk singer kept us entertained while we ate

We were soon joined by some unexpected guests hoping to share in the meat feast

Angela and Ian's new best friend

They were really well-behaved - I assume they were the owner's dogs, rather than enterprising strays

Well, sort of well-behaved.  I think this sandwich was snatched when no one was looking (He only eat the meat inside)

After our barbecue, we went back inside the bar and had huge plates of roast lamb with bread and salad - and more wine!  We were then treated to more dancing - first Argentinian folk dancing and then some tango. All videoed and much better than the photos.