We woke
today hoping the weather would be ok for our balloon flight. Over
breakfast we could see them inflating the balloon. I got more and
more excited as did Stef but a little warily!
The balloon is massive. You always know they’re going to be big but
I was surprised at how big. As a tent it would be the size of a
marquee. They started inflating it with a big sort of fan heater but
once half full turned the burners on. These are ferocious and make a
great whooshing sound.
With us on the flight was an Argentinean called Diego. We had plenty
of space to move around and were surprised when Pablo, our pilot,
said they take up to seven people plus him. That would be a bit too
cosy.
There are footholes in the side of the basket so getting in was much
easier than getting on a horse! Very gently we were off and could
see the ground moving away. Our first hurdle was to clear the hotel,
which we did with inches to spare.
We spent around an hour drifting over El Calafate. They can steer or
control the balloon but it’s mainly down to what the wind is doing.
As we passed over the town you could hear all the dogs barking at
the balloon and see people who had come out to watch us fly by.
It was a fantastically clear day, a little bit of cloud, sun coming
up, and we could see for miles all the way across to the Perito
Moreno glacier. El Calafate looks really picturesque from the air,
the houses are colourful and the town is dotted with cypress trees.
You can also clearly see where they have marked out the next plots
of land ready for building.
I had a private chuckle or two at Stef. He doesn’t like heights and
the higher we got the more uneasy he looked. At one point it looked
like the supports between the basket and balloon were a long lost
friend he never wanted to let go of again! [Also remember that after
drifting over the town at low altitude, the pilot asked “más alto?”
Ness and Diego promptly answered “Si!”, as did I, a bit more
hesitant]
All too soon it was time to land and Pablo started letting air out
of the balloon. On the ground Manuel had followed our flight so he
could pick us up when we landed. Very quickly we descended the 600
metres we had climbed and I had this strange sensation of an extra
person being on board. Turning round I saw Manuel holding on to the
basket trying to help pull us down.
It took less time to deflate than inflate. We had landed in the
middle of a field with loads of Calafate bushes and the main trick
was to ensure the balloon didn’t get ripped on the thorny bushes.
It’s amazing to think that we had been floating under just a bit of
sheet of this material.
With the balloon packed up I took the stance of photographer and
left the chaps to haul the balloon and basket onto the trailer! Back
at the hotel we packed and planned how to spend our last afternoon
here.
We decided to head to the Walichu caves and then on to Punto Bonito,
a local beauty spot. The caves have hand paintings from the
indigenous Indians who lived here. After watching, and snoozing
through, a thirty minute video we walked around the caves. They were
more hollows in the rock face than caves and it’s surprising that
people lived here.
Hungry we headed on to Punto Bonito for our picnic lunch – cheese,
salami, tomato, bread, potato tortilla and maté. We thought we had
reached Punto Bonito and parked the car by the side of the lake. We
later found out we hadn’t quite made it to where we thought we were
going. It was a really quiet spot and we had a peaceful lunch
enjoying our last views of Lago Argentina and the Andes. At 5pm we
decided to head back to town as we had to catch our flight that left
at 6.55.
Disaster! We (Stef!) had parked the car a little too far off the
road and the front wheel was well and truly stuck in the shale, and
the engine was starting to smoke when we tried to get it out. The
only way we’d get the car out was if someone towed us out. Two cars
had passed by earlier but the chances of more was remote.
We were left with one option, to walk the 2km to the main road and
try and flag a lift back to the hotel. Fortunately we didn’t have
too much to carry and we had water with us – it was an unusually
warm day for El Calafate, it must have been in the low 20’s. Stef
was convinced that we would miss our flight and have to spend an
extra night in El Calafate.
Time was not on our side but we made it to the main road by 5.30
(the time we should have been leaving the hotel to get our flight).
Fortunately a family in a pick-up stopped and we clambered into the
back for a lift to El Calafate.
We made it back to the hotel a bit before 6 and recounted our woes.
They called Hertz and Francisco (from Hertz) said he would come to
take us to the airport. He arrived at 6.10 and to our horror he said
he wanted to go and see where the car was. We were quite embarrassed
but he found it funny, especially our walk back, and said “it’s no
problem for me because you have to pay!” It cost us an extra $30!
We made it to the airport twenty minutes before the flight left,
checked in, paid our airport tax, sorted the car hire paperwork, and
made it into our seats with five minutes to spare, and covered in
dust (it showed on my black jeans but not on Stef’s beige trousers).
The downside of being late for the flight was that all the exit
seats with extra legroom had already been allocated, a luxury we had
become used to on our domestic flights. Stef was very uncomfortable,
had finished his book and soon reverted to childhood boredom!
Fortunately I was across the aisle from him so I didn’t suffer too
badly!
The plane stopped to refuel at Trelew and the exit seats came free
so we moved. Aerolineas catering shone again. El Calafate to Trelew:
half a jamon y queso sandwich and a biscout. Trelew to Buenos Aires:
a whole jamon y queso sandwich! As most people did both legs of the
flight you would think they could have been more imaginative.
At Buenos Aires we had a very friendly welcome at our hotel, dumped
bags and went back to the Molière for cerveza and food. At 1.30 we
were in bed.
