Patagonia Camp

Wow! Our jaws dropped when we walked into Patagonia Camp. This isn’t what camp should be like. We were thinking more along the lines of our Amazon camp. Before we got here, Shad and I had already told the kids that it’ll be a basic accommodation, it won’t be as comfortable as a hotel and I even packed my little bottles of shampoo and conditioner from the hotel that we were in before just in case 😅! How wrong we were. We were thoroughly spoilt the entire four days we were here. 

Yurt living (Californian not Mongolian inspired) in Patagonia 

Entrance to our home for the next three nights.

This was Mia’s view every night. Her bed was directly below this and she loved looking at the stars, and raindrops, before falling asleep.

Our family yurt. Sitting area/kids’ room.

Bathroom linking the two yurts.

Our master bedroom 

The view from our bed. 

Night life inside the yurt.

We even had our own hot tub! A hot soak out in the cold cold air, perfect remedy for our achy bones after our hikes. 

We took a short walk along one of the trails within the grounds of the camp and came to this lake. 

We’ve been so careful with drinking water in all the countries that we’ve travelled through, but not here. All the water they get here comes straight from the glaciers, pure, clean, icy cold. Clean enough to freeze your face in!

Lake Del Toro where the camp is based.

So beautiful, could have stayed here for hours if it wasn’t for the strong wind which almost blew us over.

Back at camp. Just in time for Sunday night roast! 

Perito Moreno

Perito Moreno Glacier was breathtaking. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves. 

Boat ride out for a closer look at the glacier 

A different view from land. 

El Calafate

From Iguazú we flew south to begin our journey through Patagonia. Our first stop was El Calafate. All of us were looking forward to coming here, not just for the glaciers, we’d been told that this area is famous for their lamb. And we were ready to feast on some good roast lamb, after having so much beef since we arrived in Argentina.

El Calafate was absolutely beautiful. I didn’t really know what to expect when we got here, but as drove from the airport to the hotel, all we saw were the brightest blue sky and snow capped mountains. The air was crisp and fresh which was a really nice change from the humidity in Iguazú. El Calafate could be any ski resort town you’d find anywhere in the world. Streets lined with cold weather gear shops, little bars and restaurants, and people walking around in their cold weather wear. 

El Calafate at night.

Cool kid with his cool car.

Ahhh just what we needed to warm our bellies... whole roasted lamb! 

“How am I going to finish all that?” 😲

Our tour took us out to Estancia Alice, a working cattle ranch which also runs 4x4 excursions for visitors. The kids got their first taste of 4x4 driving as Anna, our guide, drove us up Mount Frias. They had a great time bumping up and down as we drove through muddy and rocky tracks. We had an amazing view of the Argentino Lake as we drove higher up, with views of the Centinela river valley as well. Unfortunately the weather was a little cloudy so we weren’t able to see Torres del Paine in the distance. Nonetheless the views that we got were stunning enough. 

Our “comfy” ride, well maybe not comfy but definitely warm! 

Pure joy at getting to ride upfront. 

Another 4x4 coming down the terrain we just took.

Cattle and guanacos living in harmony.

At 1030m high, overlooking Argentino Lake and the surrounding mountainside.

Stormy weather coming in. Time to head down before we get caught in the storm. 

But we still had time for a quick snowball fight! 

Last remaining bits of snow from winter. Looking at her, you’d think this little girl has never seen snow before. She was so happy playing on this small snow mount. 

Back at the ranch, lunch was more meat! We also had some really tasty lamb empanadas, pumpkin soup and also a flan for dessert. Not a bad way to end the morning. 

The same day, we went for another 4x4 excursion in the afternoon. This one would be quite different from the one we went on in the morning. We will be going in a 25-seater 4x4 bus up to Balcon de Calafate (Balcony of El Calafate). But by mid-day the weather had turned for the worse with heavy rain coming down. The sky was completely covered in clouds and we could hardly see anything out of the window. It really was a waste of an afternoon but oh well, not much we could have done, as we told the kids just try to make the best of it.

It finally cleared up on our way down.

We even spotted two Lesser Horned Owls (Tucuquere) nesting in the rocks.

Another lamb dinner to end the day!

Iguazú Falls

Back up where we were staying the rain just didn’t stop. Throughout the night the thunder was deafening at times and torrential downpour just kept coming. So much for the weather forecast saying “rains easing in the morning!” We didn’t really have any choice, we geared up in our rain jackets and headed for Iguazú Falls. 

As soon as we got there, the men and the big boys went straight on the Falls boat ride. Unfortunately the little ones were too young to go on the ride so the mums stayed with them. The plan was for us to go on one of the walks through the park and meet up with the boys at the other side but it was raining so heavily that we were already drenched just from walking from the entrance to one of the rest areas. So we just stayed put where we were to dry out. All our shoes were drenched except for Mia’s and she walked through every single puddle we saw! She kept telling Aunty Cindy “no my feet are dry, my shoes are waterproof you know”, even though they were both wearing the same type of Columbia shoes 🤔😆. Once the rain eased, we took the shorter walk and met up with the boys.

Heading straight for the Falls!

New buddies, Mia and Rohan.

Minutes after their boat ride, looking back at where their boat took them. 

Lush green vegetation all around the many waterfalls.

The two boys had so much fun riding through the water that they insisted on going again when Cindy and I decided to do it. Shad got some fantastic shots of us going into the Falls.  

Still dry as we start our approach.



In we go! All of us had our rain jackets on, and I even had an extra poncho on but we got absolutely drenched. It was like having someone throw a bucket of water right at you. Even our underwear got wet!

Two Sisters Falls. After seeing this, Mia kept looking for a Brother-Sister Falls ☺️.

The water was brown because of the recent rains which washed up a lot of soil and mud into the waterfalls. On dry days, the water is crystal clear.

She loved being so close to the waterfalls, and couldn’t take her eyes off the rainbows.

Iguazú Falls is actually made up of many different waterfalls but the most majestic of them is the “Devil’s Throat”. Standing there we were just awed by the deafening sound of the falling water, everywhere we turned we were sprayed by drops of water. There was no escaping from getting wet. 

So much water! 

A rainbow to add to the beauty of amazing sight.