Torres el Paine to El Calafate

We woke up to another glorious day.  We went for breakfast and just met up with Katy and Susie who were leaving at 08:00 to catch their 13:00 flight back home.
We paid our bill and because we paid in Pesos, some of teh services were subject to VAT, which is not the case if you pay in US Dollars.
Our luggage was collected and we said farewell before our 09:00 trip, which we shard with two other guests.
The trip to the border was very comfortable as soon as we left the national park as we were on paved roads.  we reached the border in under 2 hours and waited in the gift shop, with cups of hot chocolate, until our very smart driver took us through the border controls and then drove us to the actual border, which was almost unnoticeable, and then onto the Argentinian border control, which was the smallest building we had encountered; no bureau de change here, which we were hoping to use,
shortly after the border control, we waited for our Argentine transport and boarded the 9-seater bus while the drivers transferred our luggage.
Alison noticed that each time we passed a wayside shrine, the driver would toot his horn, touch his rosary and say hail Mary, then continue on at breakneck speed safe in the knowledge that he had divine protection.
Prior to the border we had noticed Condors circling and another large bird of prey, which may have been a buzzard eagle.  We saw more Condors at the changeover point; the birds were circling a flock of sheep, no doubt looking for a weak spring lamb.
The landscape flattened out without a sign of life apart from mother-in-law's cushion, nothing seems to grow here more than a foot high.
We were dropped off at La Estepa at about 15:30, well ahead of schedule and were greeted warmly by the friendly staff and shown to our first floor room which had a panoramic view of the lake.

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We were contacted by the local representatives to confirm our tours and also by the representatives in Buenos Aires, who have amended our Iguazu falls tour as part of the pathway has been washed away.

Thanks Richard for another surprise; we are off for a walk to see the flamingos on the lake and will open and enjoy later.
The flamingos stay here all year, whilst they only visit Torres for the summer.
We walked for about an hour and a half down to the lakeside and noticed the contrast in the amount of litter - in Torres even the chewing gum is picked up.
We will be dining in tonight and enjoying the shades of pink as the sun sets - another early morning for sunrise photography beckons!
We are looking forward to our glacier tour tomorrow.