Glacier Watching

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It was obvious as soon as we had arrived into El Calafate that we had found one of the those super tacky touristy places that we try to avoid and we immediately wanted to go back to the cosy little mountain village of El Chalten. Unlike in El Chalten where tourists have to hike to see the glaciers, here in El Calafate you are driven to the glacier (it is 80km away so hiking is a little out of the question for a day trip!) which is possibly why it attracts lots of tour companies - arggh!

The Perito Moreno Glacier attracts tourists by the coach load due to its stunning beauty, accessability and activity. In fact the Perito Moreno Glacier is one of the most active glaciers in the world, so tourists such as ourselves spend the whole day standing and staring at the glacier waiting for the envitable thundering crash which proceeds a huge chunk of ice the size of a house falling into the icey depths below. Obviously this is the classic photo opportunity that every tourist is after so the thundering crash of cracking ice is also followed by the squeals of tourists desperately trying to pin point the noise and bustling infront of each other to catch the perfect photo just in time. Just to confuse the tourists further some of the ice cracks you heard did not actually come from above the water but below, and a huge iceberg would pop up out of nowhere. This is not entirely surprising as two thirds of most icebergs/glaciers are below water! In a bid to beat the tour buses we caught the local bus to the Perito Moreno Glacier so thankfully enjoyed a tranquil morning of glacier watching without to many people getting in the way of our photos! It was however quite cold and our hands froze as we stood with the camera ready.

The Moreno glacier is very impressive; at about 60m high and a couple of km wide you stand in awe and stare. The viewing platforms have been designed so you can get really close to the front of the glacier, obviously without endandering your life. The Moreno glacier is unfortunately probably the only glacier left in the world that is actually still advancing; moving around 2m closer to the peninsula every day, until every so often it completely blocks off the river infront of it until the increasing water pressure eventually blasts a hole through the glacier wall - the last time this happened was in March 2004, it must be an amazing sight.

The glacier wall has a surprising variety of colours ranging from solid white to beautiful hues of blue and the texture too can be flat, wet and slippery looking or more harsh, cracked and crushed. We tried to capture the glacier´s beauty on camera, not that the photos could really have done the glacier true justice, however unfortunately most of our photos were stolen with Kev´s bag so use your imagination.

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Comments

[paul]

hey
hi guys, just been catching up on your blogs...you dont stop much do you! im at my new job at claridges hotel now, and get holiday pay finally, and because of you guys making jealous with all of yopur exploits, im off to oz for 3 weeks in september, not that adventurous i know, but a good place to start. Then next year i'll be taking a few shorter trips so will have to try to hook up somewhere for a bevvy! Other than that, nothings new here, im thinking about re-trading as a plumber soon, but am gonna find out what are the best trades to go for in oz, as im seriously considering moving out there, (i hate to say i t, but this country is going downhill, with no vision of getting any better), so im gonna cut my loss's and jump ship me thinks! anyway, keep up the good work, and will catch up soon! paul.x (for tash)!