This morning we were on our own before our 10 am check out and 10:30 bus to the airport. Dan and I got up and had a quick breakfast, finished our packing, and then I decided to do a short walk about the village before we needed to head off for the airport. 

It was just a couple of blocks to the main drag. EL Calafate is a small ( 7,000 – 10,000) town, but unlike Puerto Arenas, had more of a feel of Banff or Niagara on the Lake rather than the frontier town we had previously stayed in. Also, here I noticed. Lots of our “traditional” spring flowers all in bloom – rhododendrons, lilacs, roses ready to burst and beautiful peonies!

Lot’s of shops, great restaurants and about anything that would appeal to tourists and adventure hikers and climbers. After covering most of the Main Street, I headed back to the hotel.

Back at the hotel, our travel family was gathered and ready to head out to the airport. Driving back out of town we were treated to beautiful vistas of Lago Argentina backdropped by the Andes.

We got to the airport and checked in. We had been forewarned that Aero Argentina only accepted 15 kg per checked bag…tough to do when we’re travelling for 6 weeks through 3-4 seasons! With some rebalancing, I managed to get my bag down to 15 kg, so that we only had to pay for 1 overweight bag – about 40-50$.

We then headed to our gate only to find out that our flight was delayed about an hour. Oh well, the scenery was lovely, and it gave me a chance to sample an Argentinian Empanada – delist, even if it wasn’t gluten free!

We soon saw our jet arrive, and we were boarded and off! Farewell to the Andes, Buenos Aires here we come!

Our guide has booked us in to see a Tango dinner show this evening while in BA. It will be our last dinner with most of our “family” and should prove to be a fun night!

When we arrived, we checked into our hotel. Dan and I found that our sliding door was broken to the balcony, so we asked for another room that we could feel confident that our bags would be secured while we went to Iguazú Falls the next day. The next room had a broken latch on the window, and the third room we were shown also had a broken lock latch. We stayed in our second room as the front desk clerk came to the “fix” the problem! He actually screwed the window shut on the outside ( not meeting security standards in my books!!!)

Enough time spent with security…it was time to be off to our Tango lesson, dinner and show! Lots of fun was had by all … there was no choice in taking the lesson! Eduardo came is and told everyone to stand (well more or less commanded!!). Good thing too, as we all had lots of fun! My biggest challenge was needing to count in Spanish so that I could remember the steps!! All and all, Dan and I made out pretty well!

After the lesson we were off to the dinner theatre. They had us all at a long table close to the stage is a former theatre. Gorgeous details to the room even though it was below ground! (You would never guess once inside!)

After dinner we were treated to a show with fascinating dancers and a wonderful orchestra!

The show was finished around 11:30pm…. Off to the hotel we went ( btw, I have rebooked into a lovely hotel for our last 2 nights…this one was just not cutting it for me!). It was repack for a light carry on for our trip tomorrow and then to bed to grab what little sleep we could get. Our flight is at 9:30 am, so we must leave the hotel at 7:15! Good night to all!