El Calafate (Patagonia)

Ve 4 rano uz sedime v taxiku a jedeme na letiste. Po chvilce zkoumani odletovych tabuli nic nevidime a tak se jdu zeptat na prepazku co je s nasim letem...mensi problem, v El Calafate je porucha na kontrolni vezi a budeme mit 8h zpozdeni. Parada, vyndame spacaky a dospime v hale mezi ostatnima nestastnikama...venku je poradna bourka.
Priletame pozde odpoledne a vita nas krasne pocasi a pohled na tycici se veze Fitz Roye. Letiste je hodne male, ale pekne. Mesto tvori domy, sruby a boudy roztahane po udoli u jezera. Zahrady tu neznaji, asfalt jen na hlavnejsich ulicich. Centrum tvori jedna vetsi ulice. Hostel je na kopci ma prosklenou predni stenu a tak je z nej krasny vyhled na mesto, jezero a hory. Personal je neuveritelne prijemny a ochotny. Behem pul hodky mame vyrizene tury na dalsi dni dokonce i autobus do El Chalten a Bariloche. Pozdeji vecer nam na pokoj prinesou amika co byl 'rybarit' a usnul na silnici pred hostelem. Nastesti hned rano jede pryc tak ho ani nepotkame.
Rano v 7 nas, 4 argentince a nemku vyzvedne transport a doveze do pristavu kde uz ceka velky moderni katamaran. Jezero je ohromne, voda barvy tyrkysove-zeleno-mlecne, pry nazyvana ledovcova mlecna. Je slunecno a vyhledy jsou paradni. Vysoke tmave steny poskrabane ledovci a na vrcholcich snih a led. Postupne se objevuji prvni kry. Jsou modre, tak modre, ze modrejsi uz byt nemuze. Cesta k ledovci Upsalla je zablokovana hradbou ledu ktera se pred nekolika mesici utrhla a tak se na nej podivame jen z dalky a jedeme pryc. Dalsi zastavka je ledovec Spegazzini. Nejvyssi ledovcova stena narodniho parku, az 125m ledu nad vodou. Kdyz zasviti slunce je hradba modra a za ni se desitky kilometru tahnou ramena ledu plneho vezi a trhlin. Parada. Posadka lode vytahuje mensi kus ledu pro whisky clenu kapitanova klubu a jede se dal. Pokracujeme k hlavnimu tahaku parku ledovci Perito Moreno. Celych 50km stojim na uplne pridi zabaleny do 3 vrstev obleceni a uzivam si vitr, vodu a vyhledy.
Samostatna kapitola vyletu jsou japonsti duchodci. Pani 150cm vzrustu jsou ovesene fotaky a kamerami, ta nejmensi vytahne z kabelky TV kameru velikosti lodniho dela a snima kazdy krok. Dokonce i pruvodce je mirne vyveden z miry :) Japonky jsou male a seschle, ale maji ostre lokty a kdyz posadka vytahne led na palubu nadsene vykrikuji, tleskaji, poskakuji a snazi se uloupnout kousek pro sebe. S tim se pak foti. Nakonec jich cela rada jako na povel vycerpanim usne a vypadaji fakt smesne.
Vecer stravime s argentinci z vyletu. Pri ritualu popijeni mate probereme rozdily zivotni urovne a stylu tady a v Evrope. Moc zajimavy vecer, kluci toho o Evrope a CR vedi dost a je videt, ze si opravdu uzivaji kontakt s nekym odjinud.
Pravidla piti mate: Kdyz pri kolovani predas hrnek dal a podekujes, uz ti stacilo. Vzdy musis dolit vodu co jsi upil pro dalsiho v rade, ale nikdy ne varici, jen horkou. Dokonce pro pripravu mate existuje specialni sloveso...A chut? Podobna silnemu sypanemu caji ktery se nechal nekolik hodin louhovat.
Jsme uz hodne na jihu a je videt od 5 do 23h. Take jsme si vsimli, ze mesic dorusta a couva naopak nez u nas...
Dalsi den vyjizdime na novy vylet. Je nas jen 6 + pruvodce a hned z mesta jedeme po nezpevnene ceste oklikou k narodnimu parku. Za chvilku nam nad hlavou krouzi kondori. Jsou krasni a i z dalky je videt jak jsou velci (az 3m). Dozvidame se, ze ji jen 1x tydne a proto hlavne plachti aby usetrili energii. Pristi zastavka je ranc kde chovaji ovce, husy a lamy. Janca se rychle s jednim mladetem skamaradi a krmi ho z flasky. Mlade pak porad leze dovnitr do srubu. Pobliz jeste potkame hejno plamenaku a mistni dravce.
Nakonec dojedeme opet k ledovci Perito Moreno. Tentokrat se muzeme kochat ze brehu a je jeste uzasnejsi nez z vody. 30km dlouhy, 5km siroky a 60m vysoky. Stena kolmeho ledu se spoustou vezi a krevas a nejakou tou jeskyni. Led neustale pracuje (popojede o 1.7m za den) a je slyset jak praska. Nejdrive rany jak pri honu, pote jak pri strelbe v lomu, nasleduje silne hrmeni a za chvilku napul sklouzava napul pada vez velikosti 12patroveho domu. Zvedne se velka vlna ktera narazi na breh a vyhazuje ven mensi kry. Po pul minute se vytvori gejzir a nova kra se vyhoupne nad vodu! Tohle uzasne divadlo vidime behem 3h 2x a jeste spoustu mensich (mensi=velikost nakladaku s privesem).
Vecer znovu stravime s argentinci a nemkou. Uci me jejich karetni hru Trruker (mozna se to pise jinak), ktera je hodne slozita, kombinace mariase a pokeru, po hodine se do toho dostanu a mame fajn vecer u piva a karet.
Fotky jsou zde:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=50823&id=1344786025&l=b4c578746d

It´s 4am and we are in the taxi going to the airport. After checking departure schedules and not finding our flight we go to the desk and check what is going on...small problem, control tower in El Calafate is broken and we´ll be 8hrs delayed. Great, we spread out our sleeping bags and continue our sleep with other unfortunate ones on the floor...there is a big storm outside.
We arrive late in the afternoon and are welcomed by great weather and view on the Fitz Roy towers. Airport is tiny but nice. There is not much to the town - houses spread in the valley on the lake shore. No gardens, asphalt only on main streets. Town centre = one street with couple buildings. Hostel is on the hill with great view over the town, lake and mountains with really nice and helpful staff. In 30mins all our tours and buses to next town are booked. Later in the evening a US guy is brought to our room - he went ´fishing´ in the morning and was found sleeping on the dusty road in front of the hostel. Very funny.
At 7 in the morning we get collected together with 4 Argentinian guys and German girl and head for the port where big modern catamaran is waiting for us. The lake is huge, water of turquoise-green-milk colour, called glacier milk. It´s sunny and views are great. Tall dark walls scrapped by glaciers with snow and ice on the top. It doesn´t take long and we see first icebergs. They are blue, so much blue that you cannot get it any bluer. The way to glacier Upsalla is blocked by the wall of ice that fell of couple months ago so we turn and go to see next glacier Spegazzini. It´s the highest ice wall of the national park, up to 125m above the water surface. When the sun shines on it, it turns blue and you can see tens of kilometres of ice shoulders spreading into the far, they are full of high towers and deep crevasses. Cool!
The crew lifts a piece of iceberg up to have some ice for whisky of captain´s club members...and we continue to Perito Moreno glacier, the main attraction of the park.
The whole 50km I stand on the top of the boat with 3 layers of clothing and admire the wild nature.
Chapter on its own are Japanese old ladies that are on the boat with us - 150cm tall, behung with cameras and video cameras. The smallest one pulls out from her handbag video camera size of boat cannon and films every step she makes. Even the guide looks bowled out :) Ladies are small and old but have sharp elbows and get everywhere. And when crew pulls up ice from the water they shout with enthusiasm, clasp their hands, bounce around the deck and try to peel of bit for themselves. Then they take thousands of pics with it. In the end the whole row falls asleep with exhaustion at the same time and look very funny.
We spend the evening with Argentinian guys and talk about life here and in Europe and sharing their ritual of drinking mate. They know a lot about Europe and Czechs and are very eager and enjoy talking with someone from there.
The rules of mate drinking: When you thank and pass the cup it means you don´t want next round. You always fill in the water for next person but never use boiling water, just hot. They even have a special verb for making of mate...and taste? Similar to strong green tea that was left in the cup for couple of hours. Our book guide says the taste is similar to ´steephorse shit´, I never tried one so cannot compare...
We are very far to the south so the day is long, light from 5 to 23. We also noticed the moon grows in the other direction than back home.
Next day we take another tour. There is only 6 of us + our guide. We leave the town and take unpaved back roads. In a little while couple of condors are floating above our heads. They are beautiful and big (wings up to 3metres). We learn from the guide that they eat only 1x week that is why they just float and don´t use wings. So they can save the energy. Next stop is a small farm with sheep, goose and lamas. Jana becomes a friend with one of the baby lamas and feeds it from the bottle and cuddles with it. Closeby we also see flock of flamingos and local birds of prey.
As the grande finale of the tour we go the the Perito Moreno glacier. This time we can enjoy it from the shore and it´s even more magnificent than from the water. 30km long, 5km wide and 60m tall. Wall of vertical ice with thousands of towers, crevasses and some caves. The ice moves all the time (travels 1.7m a day) a you can hear it. In the beginning it sounds like a hunt shooting, then like a dynamite in the mine and that is followed by noisy thunder. In a short while huge tower big like 12storey building falls into the water, makes a big wave that throws small icebergs on the shore. After another 30s there is torrent of water and new iceberg swings up on the surface! We see this great natural theatre 2x in 3hours and a lot of smaller ones (smaller=size of a truck with a 40´container)
We spend the evening with our new Argentinian friends again and learn their card game caller Trruker, it´s quite complicated with a lot of bluffing and team work.
So another great evening - cards and local beer.
You can find pictures here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=50823&id=1344786025&l=b4c578746d