Day 4 in El Calafate Sand dunes

19th February  - Our  pre - conference dinner walk from the hotel along the sand dunes and nature reserve and into the town.

Sunrise over Lake Argentina - the view from our window

It was another lovely day today and we decided that when Elwyn had finished giving his talk we would both try the walk from the hotel into El Calafate itself.  This involved scampering down some steep dunes to reach an unpaved road to a nature reserve, then a further walk along the main road into the town.  The walk there and back took about 1hr each way, but although a little challenging at some points, was well worth the effort and good excercise before the conference dinner in the evening  (This turned out to be one of the most unusual dinners I have every been to, but more photos in the next post!)  We didn't acutally make it right into the centre of the town but found a really nice little cafe bar just on the outskirts where Elwyn enjoyed a very welcome cold beer.

The main 'track' outside the hotel

Some of the rather steep sand dunes we had to climb down and then back up on the return journey

Looking back up the steep hill towards the hotel

A lot of the land is covered in this type of thick scrub which can be quite challenging to walk through

Elwyn finding the path down to the lake

Couldn't resist!

A bird of prey watching patiently from the post

The entrance to the nature reserve which is a protected area for wild birds including flamingoes

Looking across the reserve

Huge clumps of wild lavender could be seen everywhere

An oasis

A happy man with a cold beer