Perito Moreno Glacier & El Calafate

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Having left Puerto Madryn, we had a 14 hour bus trip down to Rio Gallegos, where we had to change buses and take another 5 hour trip across the country to El Calafate. That´s a whole lot of time in buses!!

In Puerto Madryn we thought we´d be super efficient and pre-book our hostel in El Calafate through the hostel we stayed in. However, on arrival at the "confirmed" accommodation we discovered there was no booking and the hostel was full! This wasn´t greatly received by 2 very weary travellers, especially as we´d paid for the first night in advance and had no way of getting our money back. We´d also bought Hostelling International cards so as to get cheaper accommodation - but it looked like it was gonna cost us a whole heap more than expected! We eventually managed to find a room in a much more expensive hotel, although this probably turned out for the best as Suzz was suffering from an allergic reaction to the chocolate we´d purchased in Sierra de la Ventana!

Having sorted out our accommodation for the duration of our stay we donned warmer clothes (definitely Autumn down here!) and just had time to get ourselves booked on a tour to the Perito Moreno Glacier in a couple of days time. We then headed to a very nice Parilla restaurant for a top notch feed.

The next morning we took a stroll to Laguna Nimez, situated just on the edge of town, where we saw flamingoes, several varieties of duck and 3 or 4 pairs of black headed swans. The afternoon was spent browsing around the artesans markets, admiring the local arts and crafts.

Thursday morning and it was an early-ish start for the tour to see the glacier. After a 2 hour journey we arrived at the viewing platforms, where we were able to admire the enormity of this "frozen river".

The Perito Moreno Glacier is approximately 4kms wide where it meets the Los Témpanos Canal and the Rico Arm of Lake Argentina. It is also one of the biggest and fastest moving glaciers in the world. From the viewing platforms it´s an awesome sight, with various hues of blue glaring through the ice (now here´s the science lesson - the differing shades of blue are caused by air bubbles becoming trapped in the ice as it forms. As the ice builds up on the top, these air bubbles get compacted and the deeper shades of blue are the result of higher pressure...oh, and something about the wavelengths of light, etc, etc...). Because the glacier is moving forward at about 2-4 meters a day it also has huge pieces of ice calving off it regularly - both within the glacier itself and off the face of the glacier into the waters below. The result of all this activity sounds like rifle shots echoing across the valley and mini tidal waves washing across the river.

Having spent a couple of hours on the viewing platforms we headed back to the bus and were taken to a small harbour where we caught a ferry across the Rico Arm, dodging icebergs and passing very close to the face of the glacier. Now it was time to put on crampons (with the help of local guides) and take a hike across the edge of the glacier itself.

WOW!!! The fact that we were walking on the glacier itself brought about a bizarre feeling, and actually being able to touch and look down the sink-holes into the glacier was a very unique experience. We were also able to drink the melting ice, as it is so pure - very refreshing! Unfortunately, the hike was over within 2 hours - we both agreed we could have done a whole day of hiking across the glacier - and we were ferried back across the river and driven back to our hotel and our last night in El Calafate.

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Comments

[Proshanta]

Are you the most visible people on Glacier? Hope you bring your happiness with wonderful smile back home.

[Av Suzz]

Philosophical Proshanta....
Thank you for your kind words old man! Out of interest have you seen the doctor recently?!