Blogs from Los Glaciares National Park , Santa Cruz, Argentina, South America
In Patagonia (oder "Viento, mucho viento")
Published: April 19th 2012South America » Argentina » Santa Cruz » Los Glaciares National ParkPatagonien. Seit ich Bruce Chatwin gelesen habe, wusste ich, hier will ich hin. Chatwins Ziel war die Höhle von Milodón (wo Resten von einem Riesenfaultier gefunden wurden). Wir brauchten nicht wie Chatwin 6 Monate um die Höhle zu finden, wir schafften das schon am dritten Tag. Wenn ich 6 Monate dafür unterwegs gewesen wäre, hätte mich die Höhle wohl ein Bisschen enttäuscht. Gut ja, sie ist gross und die Idee, dass hier ein 4m-Faultier gehaust hat, fasziniert - aber ja, das Mylodon ist vor 10'000 Jahren ausgestorben und die Replika beim Eingang der Höhle ist aus Plastik. Aber wir kamen nicht deswegen hierher, sondern wegen der Gletscher, der Berge, der Steppe, der Weite... Und ja, wir wurden fündig! Die Gletscher hier haben mich umgehauen! Vor allem weil sie im Lago Argentino, d.h. im Wasser enden, bekommt ... read more
Glaciers galore...
Published: April 13th 2012South America » Argentina » Santa Cruz » Los Glaciares National ParkWhen staying on the fringes of Los Glaciares National Park and contemplating a 4-day trek the next week, you can do one of two things: rest up, or warm up. Jo did the former; I did the latter. On my own. For a blissful and fantastically scenic, and gratifyingly energetic, eight hours. Welcome to El Chalten, gateway to the northern side of this dramatic national park in Argentine Patagonia. We had been driving across eastern Patagonia for several days, and, before that, the Pampas. We had just about had our fill of endless flatness, whether cultivated and lush, or increasingly barren and wind-blasted, so we were childishly excited to see the first hints of Andean peaks. The approach to El Chalten is very dramatic, the rocky pinnacles of the Fitz Roy Range fairytale-like in their snowy ... read more
Glaciers, Icebergs and a Boat
Published: March 16th 2012South America » Argentina » Santa Cruz » Los Glaciares National ParkSince my ankle was still very sore today, I wanted to take it easy and rest it for a day or two. I had given thought to a boat tour on the Lake to some other glaciers, so I went ahead and did it today. It was a nice sized catamaran and full of people. We first went to the Spegazzini Glacier. The day was sunny and beautiful for the most part. The clouds come and go around the mountains, causing it to be dark and overcast one minute, and sunny the next. Also, I wanted to mention the water in the lake. From El Calafate, it looks pretty blue, but it is really a milky-gray-blue color that is so hard to describe. The glaciers bring so much microscopic sediment into the lake that the sediment ... read more
Big Ice, aka Phenomenal Day on Perito Moreno Glacier
Published: March 15th 2012South America » Argentina » Santa Cruz » Los Glaciares National ParkOh my heck! This trip just gets better each day. Today was the Big Ice hike on the Perito Moreno Glacier. This is the reason that I am down here in Patagonia. When I start to plan my trips, I pick up tour guide books and come up with very broad strokes of where I want to go and what I would like to see. From there, I purchase air tickets in and out. That gives a good base of what I can do and then I start picking the who, what, when, where and why. Actually, since I travel alone, it isn't so much about the who as it is the other 4. Big Ice was the why and El Calafate, Patagonia was the where. I can honestly say that I had never heard of ... read more
Walking and climbing on Viedmar glacier in Patagonia
Published: February 26th 2012South America » Argentina » Santa Cruz » Los Glaciares National ParkTrip from El Chalten, 30 mins on bus to lake, then one hour to glacier on boat, then walking and climbing with crampons and ice axes, fantastic day, amazing tee shirt weather (unusual in this part of the world)... read more
Moving with the ice
Published: November 22nd 2011South America » Argentina » Santa Cruz » Los Glaciares National ParkDay 40 - Saturday 19th November Up at 5.30am for our first tour in, well near El Calafarte a boat trip to the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares. This is a collection of glaciers including Perito Moreno which is one of the few advancing glaciers in the world. The bus collected us at 7.45am for the drive to the catamaran on the edge of the national park. These tours are expensive but most definitely worth doing, even though it is with large tour groups who push and shove. We arrived at the boat and it took nearly 30 minutes from boarding till departure. The first stop on the cruise were the most amazing icebergs which the photos do not fully capture the beautiful colours and shapes. The good thing about the boat is it stopped for a ... read more
Parque nacional Los Glaciares : l’Âge de Glace 4
Published: October 12th 2011South America » Argentina » Santa Cruz » Los Glaciares National ParkAujourd’hui, mercredi 12 octobre, nous prenons enfin un moment pour se replonger dans l’écriture de notre blog. Cela fait déjà 11 jours qu’aucun nouveau post n’a été écrit et pour cause, nous étions très occupés. Demain nous retournons déjà à Buenos Aires, pour la dernière ligne droite. Mais revenons d’abord sur les deux dernières semaines, si vous le voulez bien. Après être revenus dans la capitale, suite à notre semaine tropicale dans le nord, nous nous sommes lancés dans la découverte de la dernière zone d’Argentine où nous n’avions pas encore mis les pieds : la Patagonie ! Nous l’avons évidemment gardée pour la fin, pour une histoire de climat et de température. En effet, visiter la Patagonie en plein hiver, c’est pas une très bonne idée ! Les températures peuvent être très basses, les conditions ... read more
Parque Nacional Los Glaciares - 2
Published: March 6th 2011South America » Argentina » Santa Cruz » Los Glaciares National ParkPrekvapivo sme sa zobudili do pekneho, skoro slnecneho dna. Dnes sme sa rozhodli vratit sa k ladovcu Piedras Blancas a jeho rovnomennej lagune, a ist k nemu co najblizsie. Na mape ktoru sme dostali bola nakreslena cesta, v skutocnosti sme sa cely cas skriabali cez popadane balvany a cestu si hladali sami. Vzdy sme si predstavovali ze ladovce su biele a trochu modre, ale tento bol cely modry, nasa namaha dostat sa k nemu stala za to. Dalsou zastavkou bola asi najznamejsia dominanta parku - Monte Fitz Roy. Je to vlastne vysoky kus skaly, co vyzera ako veza. Z vyhliadky na Fitz Roy sme sa museli vracat rovnakou cestou a tak sme si batohy schovali do krovia pri ceste, celkom nam to usetrilo namahu. Na to aby sme sa priblizili k Fitz Royu sme sa museli ... read more
Parque Nacional Los Glaciares - 1
Published: March 6th 2011South America » Argentina » Santa Cruz » Los Glaciares National ParkNechceli sme stracat dalsi den a tak sme sa rozhodli ist do parku - Parque Nacional Los Glaciares /park ladovcov/ uz v tento den, napriek tomu ze sme dorazili v skorych rannych hodinach a velmi sme sa nevyspali. Este v hoteli sme si pobalili veci na vylet, pockali kym sa rozvidnie, odniesli si velke batohy do uschovne, nakupili jedlo a vyrazili. Mestecko El Chalten lezi uz v parku a tak nam stacili vyst za mestecko a uz sme boli na ceste. Pocasie uz od rana nevyzeralo velmi slubne, postupne sa zhorsovalo a nakoniec sme kracali v prudkom vetri a dazdi. Po asi dvoch hodinach, uplne mokry sme zacali uvazovat o skorom kempovani. Miestny sprievodcovia nam ukazali na maly domcek pre horolezcov, kde sme sa mohli schovat. Radi sme sa tam uchylili, uvarili caj a zacali susit ... read more
Days 73 - 76 El Calafate, El Chalten and the Glaciers
Published: January 28th 2011South America » Argentina » Santa Cruz » Los Glaciares National ParkWe are back in Argentina which means more steak, more red wine and more dulce de leche! First stop was El Calafate which was a very touristy town geared solely, it seemed, to get people to the Perito Moreno glacier – one of the few stable, large glaciers in the world which advances 1.7 metres a day. This results in many carvings (ice falling off the front) which is spectacular to see. We had a truly amazing day exploring the glacier from different view points and angles. It's one of the most beautiful things we've ever seen and although there were lots of other people looking at it too it was well worth the visit. Then it was back to El Calafate for another night before an early morning bus, 4 hours further north but still ... read more










































