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Published: November 30th 2005
From BA we flew down south to Patagonia for a week. Flights were very full so that was our time limit and we decided just to stick to El Calafate and see some glaciars and then to El Chalten for some trekking.
El Calafate
The first day in El Calafate we did a tour where you get in a boat and visit a whole heap of glaciars. The tour was good but long, it takes over an hour to get there then you are on this boat the whole day sailing around looking at icebergs & glaciars (there is alot in the area) and the boat can seem to be so slow at times. But it is quite cool ( I actually mean that literally as well it was FREEZING!!)
Anyway you go and check out several glaciers that go into Lago Argentina. The first we saw was Glaciar Spegazzini, which was really impressive - it was so huge (the highest in the area : 80-135m front wall) and the boat goes very close to the wall of ice and along it. The icebergs throughout the lake are also very impressive, with those closer to the glaciar being very
large. They are also very, very blue, not white as you may expect (due to the refraction of light through them).
Next was Glaciar Upsala (passing several more glaciars that you can see in the mountains) which is the largest in the National Park and longest in South America (60km). We didn't get as close and also as it is so long and travels along the river, you can't see it sweeping down from a mountain. You don´t really get any idea as to it's size as everything is just so big and hard to put to scale, it just appears like a wall of ice at river level. If you flew over it I am sure it would be much more impressive.
Finally you stop and walk through a forest to a smaller lake that has 3 glaciars feeding into it. This was really good as the lake is full of icebergs of all different shapes and sizes. Matt had a field day with the camera but unfortunately it was pretty overcast and wet so the photos don´t do it justice!!
El Chalten
Our next stop was El Chalten, a small town about 4-5 hours
away. And what a great trip that can be as it is pretty much all on unpaved roads! Also when I say small I mean small. There is not much there at all. Apparently there is 300 permanent residents, this goes up to 1000 in summer. The town is just for those wanting to trek. There is nothing else there. Just some hotels, restauarants a few souveniers shops and a couple of grocery shops.
The first day was terrible, the worst so far on our trip. It rained and rained, it also blew a horrible cold wind. This town just seemed so desolute - just a few dirt (read: mud) roads and nothing around for miles & miles. We went for a small walk to a waterfall, which was nice but the wind was so strong and as it got wetter it just was not worth going outside. We met a great American couple - Maggie & Todd, who had been camping and were considering whether they would camp out again. Needless to say as the rain flew harder this was an easy decision.
The next day, well what a change!! Clear blue skies and some warmth in
the sun, perfect for trekking and to show off what the town has - views! The views of the snow topped peaks and especially of Fitz Roy peak where sensational.
So off we went on our trek. Now I will confess that Matt was so excited about the views, the weather and what great pictures he can take, he had me out on the trail within the hour of me waking, so this was never going to start to well especially when the hardest bit is first - all uphill. Not too hard but still up. Sooo needless to say I did give him my opinion of trekking (sorry to offend anyone but I was still asleep) which essentially was what a waste of time it is and there is no point to it...
However I take it all back. This was one of the best things I have done, especially on this trip. The trek was truely beautiful, we went through forest, wetlands, different forest, barren, rocky land, up mountains and through deep snow (so much fun!!) and then our destination, Laguna de los Tres and oh my god what a view!! It definitely made the whole
trip worthwhile. The mountians and peaks in front of you, the huge areas of untouched snow. Truely, truely beautiful. Words are not enough. The serenity.... Just sitting on this mountian looking straight up at Fitz Roy... unless you are a climber, you pretty much could get no closer (please do not email me and tell you can that would be just mean).
The next day we did another walk out to Lago Torres which was good, but the previous day had spoilt us. But again, the trek was pretty, at one stage you overlook a river gorge which was really beautiful too. The lake with icebergs and a glaciar coming into it was good too.
Then back to El Calafate - good timing too as the weather went bad once more...
El Calafate
We got back in the afternoon and Maggie & Todd had been on the same bus. we caught up with them in the afternoon and again in the evening to help entertain them before thier 3am bus ride. We went for a very good dinner at this wine bar, so of course I was very content.
The next day was our tour
to Glaciar Moreno. this was excellent we did this 'alternative tour' with
Hostel which was good, we went along another route and they pointed out all this wildlife to us. Then at the glaciar went for a trek and had time of our own before we did a boat trip along it. Now Moreno is the one most see, when people talk about Patagonia. It´s 32 Km long, 4- 5 km wide, and 60 - 80 m high above water level, it is another 80m below. the really cool thing about it is that it is still advancing. It actually advance across the lake, blocking it. The water then builts up, pushes against it, making a tunnel. It then works away at this tunnel, before collapsing in and starting again. It is supposed to be amazing to watch. The last time this happened was Mar 2004. At the time we saw it is was across the lake blocking it. Also ice regularly falls off again a pretty cool thing to see. we were really lucky and as we walked up a large chunk fell off. Unfortunately the camera was not out, and later when it happened again I had just
Wild flowers
Everywhere you look there are wild flowers and bird life...very prettyput the camera away!! But we still saw it and that was very cool.
We also ran into Tanya there - the girl who had been with the Irish boys (we were travelling with them in Chile). We had just missed the boys who had left to get a bus south. Small world...
Back to BA...
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non-member comment
great photo's dude :)