Quickly to Perito Moreno

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9 December, Saturday... Arrived at about 2pm, went to eat some quality Argentine food (steak and lamb parilla), went to supermarket to buy stuff for packed lunches and checked out buses. After that I read a bit of the guide book and slept (a lot).

10 December, Sunday... Today was the day of the 'Alternative' tour of the Perito Moreno glacier as organised by our hostel and recommended by both the Lonely Planet and Rough Guide. How can you go wrong. Well we had started to wonder at first as the alternative nature seemed to be to take the back roads so they didn't have to pay the toll road and to stop at their friends cafe for tea. But on that road we did see condors, or at least we were told they were, and sheep and goats and lakes. Next onto the national park. A short stop to take photos of the north face of the glacier and we were back on the bus to the platforms where you get some decent panoramic views of the glacier and can see big old lumps of it fall off and drift into the lake. Sadly I couldn't quite capture these ruptures. There is a nice sign at one of the platforms which shows how in 2003 an archway formed and collapsed after the glacier advanced to the lake shore and gave way to the water trying to flow underneath it. That would have been excellent to see but probably won't happen again for a little while. Up next a less interesting walk to a boat ride across the south face of the glacier. The boat had much the same views as the view from the platforms but still equally impressive. We had previously seen a boat have to change course to avoid a big lump of ice (iceberg!) that had fallen and started to head towards it but none of that fun for us.

Back to El Calafate and plans made to leave it. Unfortunately those plans meant leaving at 3am the following morning on a bus for most of the day.

11 December, Monday... On bus. ALL DAY.

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