When last we left off, there had been the border exchange, eight of us being handed over from Chile to Argentina. And then it was a looooong drive. The landscape was flat and unchanging in many parts. We didn't see many signs of life. I dozed, I read, I watched stuff on my iPad. Around 7:45 or so, we rolled on up to our hotel in El Calafate.
I'll have more to share about the town and the national park nearby. That first evening, though, we were all in a panic over what to do about money. I wish we'd been better informed about the Argentine "blue market" in currency exchange, and especially about how using credit cards was tied to the favourable exchange, not the official one. If we'd known that last bit, we wouldn't have had half of us dash off from the hotel to try to get some cash right away. We also might have opted for better (and less pricey) dining than the hotel restaurant. Oh, it was fine enough, but we chose it because we could do a room charge and pay for that with cash two days later, not because it was the best dining in town. My chicken arrived as (admittedly tasty and tender) lamb,
and the wine was delicious,
but at the official exchange rate, it would have been a 160 USD meal, and it assuredly wasn't up to that price!
The room was fine enough,
the view from the room and from the hotel front was alright.
The hotel lobby had ample seating for all of us to enjoy a bottle of wine after dinner (though the hotel bar did want to charge us a corkage fee when we asked to use a corkscrew and some glasses - we pushed back and paid no extra fee).
Our first night in a new country came to a close. The next day was going to be packed!
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