This morning was cold with 100% chance of rain and snow. Still the youthful brits and yanks set off on day long hikes as I ate my breakfast wondering, should I too be foolish or should I be smart and have a nice warm coffee somewhere. As I walked down the road it became clear that at 9:30am this town was dead, just about every shop was closed. I was getting desperate when i reached the other end of town and had a coffee at the petrol station. Yes who was being foolish now?
El Chalten main street
As I walked back towards the hostel, which I knew was warm and welcoming, plus has a resident St Bernard, that just sort of wanders around. One of the cafe’s was open. I had a coffee that was worse than the petrol stations coffee. I should have been walking in the bad weather, but only a couple of hours after they set off, hoards were returning saying they got lost in the snow! So I was right. Feeling very smug, I wandered back down the road to La Cerviciera, the local brewery/bar/cafe that is still the only place i’ve had a decent meal at in El Chalten. My recommendations are to start with a Bock and a spicy empanada. The vegetable soup is also good, but get stuck into the pasta. Finally even their coffee which was not espresso, was fantastic and warmed me right up.
Brewery cafe
I still had time to waste by reading books, listening to music, watching soccer on ESPN in the bar. The bus after stopping at a guanaco free la Leona restaurant (equals me not happy) arrived in El Calafate 3 hours later. As had been expected I received a warm welcome back here at the Marcopolo suites. Mariana and Marcia are the friendliest staff at a hostel/hotel ever. They even ordered me pasta from the home delivery mob in town. It feels like a home away from home and it will be such a shame when I have to leave for Mendoza in the morning.
If you are reading this bit then you won’t realise I forgot phrase of the day, today. So todays phrase is courtesy of my mate Shannon. “La vida es corta para mal café” or roughly translated, life’s too short for bad coffee. OK so i didn’t forget now, and ignore the confession I made two sentences ago.