Advertisement
Published: December 13th 2006
Perito Moreno Glacier
Quality self-take, if i do say so myself.The next stage of our trip was to the south of Argentina and Chile, to a vast region known ominously as Patagonia. I had been in Patagonia previously, when I was in Bariloche and Puerto Madryn, yet they did not prepare me for the sheer vastness and extremeness (I think I just made a new word) of this area the further south you go.
We flew from Buenos Aires to El Calafate in Argentina, which was the first step in our mission to get to the Torres Del Paine National Park in Chile. The flight there was interesting to say the least. I´m not the greatest flyer in the world, and sitting in a twin engine plane flying over the wide expanses of Patagonia feeling every bump was not an experience I wish to have to repeat in a hurry. Of course, Josh found it all rather humerous.
El Calafate is a major tourist hub in itself, with it´s two main attractions being the nearby Mount Fitzroy, where daft fools go hiking, and the Perito Moreno Glacier. We decided on taking a day trip to the glacier, as we had heard that it was quite an incredible sight, and
Perito Moreno Glacier
Chilling out on the way to the glacier - what a wanker. it was a lot easier than going to Mount Fitzroy. The Perito Moreno Glacier is 5 km wide, with an average height of 60 metres above the surface of the water, with a total ice depth of 170 meters. It advances at a speed of up to 2 m per day (around 700 m per year), although it loses mass at approximately the same rate (thanks Wikipedia).
To tell you the truth, I thought that spending 2 hours driving to a glacier, then 4 hours looking at a glacier, and then 2 hours driving home from a glacier, wouldn´t be the most exciting day. And I was right. Not to say that it wasn´t an incredible experience, and I don´t regret going at all. It is just a bloody long time to spend looking at a chunk of ice. The amazing thing about it is that it continually (at least every 20 mins or so) has large chunks of ice breaking off and falling into the lake below. The sound that this makes is quite extraordinary, probably best described as sounding like a gunshot. The only problem is that the speed of sound results in you hearing the noise
Perito Moreno Glacier
Our first sight of the glacier well after the chunk of ice has actually carved off the face, meaning that you have hundreds of tourists all searching the glacier face for this ice, when it has already come off and plunged into the water seconds before. Quite funny really.
You can also undertake many other activities out at the glacier, such as going on a boat ride to get closer (Josh did this one and said it was quality), or hiking on the glacier, which is apparently very spectacular but also spectacularly expensive!
All in all it was a top day out, and I would recommend doing it through the Calafate Hostel, as they were cheaper than the other options and had some additional extras (a quality hike etc beforehand) that were good value. However, I would not recommend staying there, as although it was a nice hostel, they charged a lot of money for their accommodation and additional services.
Next stop - Torres Del Paine National Park!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.104s; Tpl: 0.017s; cc: 7; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0629s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Jo
non-member comment
Damn you!
Hey Craig! Sounds like you are having so much fun, and although we have only been in london about a month i miss travelling already- keep the travel blogs coming they add a ray of sunshine to my otherwise dreary day..!!