Our day began with a drive around Estancia 25 de Mayo, a huge ranch named for Argentinian Independence Day. It’s also home to a 2,000 year-old native tribal gravesite, and the oldest settler house in the area. Our guide Christian is a former pro skater who was roommates in California with Chad Muska (the one with the backpack, remember?). Now he’s a nature guide and absolutely loves his job. Every plant and animal he showed us, it was like he was seeing it for the first time. We had a blast with him. He drove an old forest green Land Rover, a totally mechanical car with no electronics at all. Going uphill the engine chirped and squealed. “That’s the stereo today,” said Christian. There are guanacos everywhere, even though the properties are all fenced off, they just jump over the fences and roam and graze freely. “The guanacos are the real landowners,” said Christian. The tour finished at La Seccion, “the section house,” which is like a guest house / owner’s weekend house at the estancia.
Christian dropped us off Calafate Coffee Roasters, where we enjoyed excellent coffee and atmosphere. We wanted to buy some of the cool mugs but were worried they wouldn’t survive the trip. Tipping in US dollars never gets old here—even one or two dollars gets a big reaction from people. They thank you sincerely. They may show their coworkers, who also thank you. Or sometimes they pocket it right away without showing anyone. Either way, there’s a constant sense of an economy hungry for dollars, and of people hungry for financial stability. Putting dollars into the economy at the very micro level feels meaningful. When we tipped our guide Christian, he looked at us intently and said, “I will save this.”
We finished the day at the hot tub and then dinner, both at the hotel. Tomorrow we cross into Chile and head for Torres Del Paine, our final, and maybe most epic, stop on the trip.
sabbatiblog 