We have another early start to catch our morning flight to El Calafate in southern Patagonia.  Our flight was rescheduled to leave a half hour earlier than originally scheduled, and then took off an hour late.  Aerolineas Argentina continues to maintain its on time percentage of 0%.

Upon landing, we get our luggage and take a short taxi ride into town to check into our El Calafate lodging.  We find a lunch place nearby and get some decent pasta which is a nice change from mediocre sandwiches at lunchtime.  We take naps and then meet our travel agent to pay for tomorrow’s tour of the Perito Moreno glacier.   I’m glad to no longer be hoarding the cash that we needed to pay for the tours.  Credit cards are not nearly as common place here and most tours require payment in cash.  Fortunately, the hotels have safes.  Unfortunately, ATMs with money in them are hard to find in Patagonia.

With tomorrow all set, we wander the main street of El Calafate and have dinner at Vaca Atada.  This turns out to be one of the best places we’ve had dinner.  The food is good, especially the steak and the prices are unheard of compared to back at home.  Twice the food, top quality and at half the price, compared to home.  Having had a nice meal, we head back to the room around 10pm.  Even though it’s still light out, we go to sleep so we can be well rested for tomorrow’s walk on the glacier.