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Published: April 20th 2011
Puerto Natales
Celebration drinks with MartyThe five hour bus journey from Puerto Natales to El Calafate was surprisingly bearable despite none of us getting any meaningful sleep last night. After dinner and beers last night the 4 of us bundled ourselves into the back of an affable local's car and were escorted to the local 80's disco, wonderful! We had already enjoyed a fair amount of the local brew in a fabulous bar but it just seemed like the right thing to do at the time. After paying the entry fee of $5US each we made our way into what looked like a church hall. The bourbon and cokes were poured into the plastic coke cups with ecclesiastical enthusiasm. At this stage we didn{t even mind wading our way into the gents facility such were our high spirits. At 5am the lights came on and we were shuffled back onto the streets of Puerto Natales. It was time to pack and get ready for the next adventure, Argentina.
Having completed Chilean exit formalities and ignoring the passport photo induced laughter from the 2 flirting Argentine immigration agents, we arrived in El Calafate, Argentina. We are here for one reason only. To see the famous blue-hued
80's Disco night Chilean stylee.
Jon pays the entry fee whilst Marco befriends the bouncer. Perito Moreno Glacier in the Los Glacieres National Park. After a nights rest we again boarded a coach, this time for the short coach journey from El Calafate to Los Glacieres National Park. Shortly after 9am we were rewarded with our first view of the monster glacier. We then boarded a boat across Lago Argentina and were then kitted up with crampons for a short tour on the glacier which culminated with a whiskey and ice on the glacier itself, nice touch.
This glacier is a dynamic attraction, it's 60ft high walls frequently crack and groan with great intensity and constantly drop chuncks of ice off it's face causing huge splashes and large bobbing icebergs. Catching it on camera is another matter, turn away for a moment and you will inevitably hear the rifle crack of another huge 'calving'. The big ones cause mini tidal waves even persuading approaching boats to back away from the shoreline as a precaution. Another crossing of the Lago, this time close up to the glacier wall gave us fantastic photo opportunities. The final stop at the balconies where the majority of the collapses occur gave us our final views and left our neck
On the bus to Argentina
At the Argentine border with Chile hairs tingling as the ice explosions continued. This was an outstanding excursion, if you are ever in this part of the world make sure you go to the Perito Moreno Glacier!
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Mum G
non-member comment
Wow!
Unbelievable! So where's the snow glasses Rich? Dropped them down the ice hole? X