El Calafate


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South America » Argentina » Santa Cruz » El Calafate
April 22nd 2012
Published: May 10th 2012
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On 21 April we took a bus across the border back into Argentina to the lovely lakeside town of El Calafate, noted as the gateway to the glaciers and trekking. The good weather we had in Chile was forecast to continue in El Calafate so we booked a day trip to visit the Perito Moreno glacier in Los Glaciares National Park.

The world heritage status national park covers 600,000 hectares and has 356 glaciers. The largest glacier is Perito Moreno covering 250 sq km. It is 30 km long, 5 km wide at the front and rising to over 60 meters above the level of the water; very big!

We chose a perfect day to visit Perito Moreno glacier with no wind and lots of sunshine. First we took the boat out to see one side of the glacier from the water then we walked to the multi-layer viewing platforms to spend a couple of hours mesmerised. We could hear the cracking and creaking of the glacier as it moved (2 metres each day) and we watched many “small” pieces (size is relative!) break off the face of the glacier and crash into the water with the accompanying gunshot sound. It was amazing.

Also while in El Calafate we spotted some flamingos, Leigh did some more fishing, and we were introduced to road building – cold weather style.


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