After leaving Torres del Paine on Dec 23rd we decided to head over to Argentinian Patagonia for the Christmas Holidays. We splurged and made a reservation for three nights at a 3 star hotel in El Calafate which is about 4 hours in good weather from Puerto Natales, Chile. Actually because of Argentina's economic collapse the prices are very reasonable here.

El Calafate is the name of the ubiquitous berry that grows in patagonia on a bush - very similar in appearance and taste to a bluberry. Legend says that if you eat the Calafate berry off of the bush you ensure a return visit to Patagonia.

We were both a bit blue ourselves since we were so far from our loved ones on Christmas. We did our best to remedy this by treating ourselves to a gorgeous 5 course Christmas Eve dinner. I personally tried a large famous Argentinian steak and I can say that I heartily approve. We finished dinner at about 11:30pm and made our way back to our hotel in time to see the whole town explode with fireworks at midnight.

Christmas day we only left our hotel to go to mass and otherwise spent the whole day in ou room watching english language movies on our cable TV and talking to our families. Merry Christmas Everyone!