El Calafate!

Our flight today was at 4.45am, what a horrible time to be flying! However, it did mean that I was ready to leave at least an hour before we were due to get the bus. I managed to fit all my warm clothes into my bargain fold up bag (such a good buy!), although I wasn't really prepared for cold weather and ended up having to borrow a mac in a sac and gloves.
We left the house at 2 to catch a bus and after waiting 20mins it drove straight past so we ended up getting a taxi anyway. This was probably a good thing as we had far too much time in the airport and me and Alexia ended up conking out on the floor until security opened!
The flight was fine and on landing you could see the most amazing birds eye view of the mountains. We were all shattered when we arrived at the hostel but decided to go to the Laguna Nimez Reserve as opposed to sleeping and wasting the day (bearing in mind the flights cost £275 return!!). We walked for quite some time before actually finding the reserve, mainly because our hostel directed us to a "bay" that I'm pretty sure doesn't exist/is in the middle of construction, but we eventually came across it. It took about an hour and a half to walk around the reserve and apart from the gail force wind it was great! The views of the snowy mountains were fab, the pics really don't do the day justice! And we also got our first sighting of Lago Argentino. There were so many birds but the biggest highlight was definitely the flamingos! They were just roaming about the beach freely, which seemed so strange since I've only ever seen them in a zoo. The reserve as well as Calafate as a whole was such a change from the loud hustle and bustle of B.A. and it was actually really nice to have a few days away! The town reminded me so much of Larne as everyone seems to know everyone, it was just really nice.
We're having an early night tonight as we have to leave early tomorrow for the glacier. The packed lunches are made and I'm so excited!!!