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Published: September 17th 2007
Perfect Rainbow
The largest and brightest rainbow we have ever seenWe finally arrived in El Calafate after a 23 hour bus journey that wasn’t that bad, managed to sleep most of the way and when awake the views were amazing so had lots to keep me occupied..
We ended up staying at the America Del Sur hostel all very nice with under floor heating which made the place feel like a sauna but cosy when coming out of the freezing cold. The hostel was built on a hillside overlooking the town and had panoramic views of Lago Argentino the biggest lake in Argentina; it was nice place to chill out with a book taking it all in.
It was also a good place to book tours for the main reason we were here, to see the Glaciers. Here’s a bit of geek info for you, the Patagonian ice field is the 3rd largest in the world, after Antarctica and Greenland, it feeds 250 glaciers of which 48 are within the Los Glaciares national park. Its also one of the few places on the Planet that some of the Glaciers are actually increasing in size, but only a few as most are staying the same or reducing like the others
Perfect Rainbow
It looks like a lazer show coming out of the water. around the Planet.
There were a few different tour options from taking the bus, going on a boat and also hiking on Moreno. The most expensive being the hiking at 60 pounds and the cheapest just getting the bus. We decided to go for the middle option and do the bus and the boat for 35 pounds for Upsala and 25 pounds for Moreno including all the park fees. Other travellers have told us that we should do Moreno and Upsala Glacier if we can, so we did! We wanted to do the hiking but didn’t feel like it was value for money as you only got 1.5 to 2 hours on the ice and it sounded like you would just literally be walking on fairly flat ice, nothing challenging and with the only bonus of saying that you have actually walked on a Glacier! We have already done this in NZ so wasn’t bothered.
First was the Upsala trip that takes in a number of different smaller glaciers as well Upsala being the largest at 870km sq! The day started a bit misery and wasn’t looking forward to getting wet and cold on the boat. I needn’t
of worried as the boat was pure luxury, high back leather seats and all in doors and warm; it was the nicest boat I have ever been on. As soon as we set sail everything was perfect, a brilliant and the most beautiful Rainbow we have ever seen appeared, it didn’t look really, it was like there was some sort of technology being used and like it was some sort of modern laser show, just amazing!
After natures own light show we cruised around Lago Argentino in its aqua green waters which are caused by minute copper particles that are trapped in the glacier and as it gradually melts, oxidation takes place, a little science lesson for you there! We were now outside on the boat deck taking pictures of the scenery and the occasional ice berg floating by from some as big as a house and to smaller ones the size of a car! The guide told us any glacier or iceberg you see you should treat as the human body and the bit we see above water is the head and all the rest is under water! It’s scary to think of the size of them. The
icebergs were great for taking pictures, so many varied colours throughout the green and blue scale to your Daz whites, they looked amazing and even better knowing the pictures we have taken will be unique as tomorrow the sun and water would have melted it into a different shape.
Our first stop was Glacier Spegazzini, the highest glacier in the park at 350m high. It looked huge and was great to see lots of thick electric blue ice at the waters edge and going far back into the valley. Next up was Upsala the largest Glacier we were going to see and we couldn’t believe the size of it. The ones in NZ compared to this looked like a bit of snow I sometime get in my back garden! The boat got us within about 500 meters of the glacier wall about 200 meters high and 3km long across the channel where it meets the lake and then plummets a further 1km under water! The ice wall had more amazing colours and lots of spiky towers making it look like Superman’s home! The best thing for me was getting to watch a few tons of huge chunks fall off
Parque National Los Glaciares
Mini ice bergs that look like little ducks floating in the water! the front wall and splash into the water, a loud noise as it cracked and fell into the water causing a small tidal wave which gladly got smaller as it came towards the boat! We got a few on film so will show them you when we get home.
After Upsala we stopped for lunch at a small bay where we walked to another nearby lake, Lake Onelli which has 4 small glaciers converging from different angles on to it. The first hundred meters of the lake was covered with thick ice and after that lot of icebergs in all shapes and sizes. It was great to just sit on the rocks eating our sandwiches and watch as the icebergs gradually glide across the lake. To get to the lake we had to walk through a forest with only one sort of tree, the Lenguas and can only be found here, Tasmania, New Zealand and some parts of Australia and can only grow in places of zero pollution. All the trees were covered in stringy green lichen and affectionally called Old mans beard, it makes the trees look very old and strange and reminded me of the enchanted forest
in lord of the rings where the trees talk!
The next day we headed out to Perito Moreno Glacier for a day guided tour. The guide was good and pointed out lots of interesting things and gave us some interesting facts. The scenery was once again breathtaking and went from one great view to the next; I have never seen so many snowy mountains and glaciers. On the road we stopped by and watched a few huge brown eagles surrounded by a group of Cara Cara birds, some kind of vulture tearing apart some road kill. As we watched we could see we weren’t the only ones interested as a couple of giant Andean condors gave us a fly by, if they got in on the act the eagles would have no chance!
Our first glimpse of the glacier was surreal and we couldnt believe what we were looking at. We could see the huge edge of the glacier on the lakes edge and then disappearing for miles and miles into the distance whilst nestled in between two huge mountains. As we got closer and closer the views got more and more impressive and we couldnt wait to
Upsala Glacier
You can get the idea of the size by looking at how small the boat looks! get a closer look out on the water.
We took a boat out which got us within 300m of the front wall which was up to 100 meters high out of the water and another 200m or so below! It would be hard to believe how high this would look if the water wasn’t there! With us having the advantage of getting a closer look, it was great to see the variation in colours and shape of the ice. We got to witness a further few chunks of ice falling into the water but nothing as spectacular as the day before, shame but at least we got to see some.
After the boat it was back to land to the various different miradors of the Glacier, the first a few minutes from the car park. As we were walking we both suddenly stopped and once again shell shocked, the views didn’t seem real it was just amazing and hard to explain the sheer size and beauty of the glacier. I didn’t think anything as amazing as this existed and was only in the minds of the movie makers, it was unbelievable. We just spent the next 2 hours
going from one viewing spot to another and each time I turned my back on the views and then looked back I was amazed all over again which doesn’t happen that much in life.
When we got back in the evening and we were looking back at the pictures I still couldn’t believe we was there! We both agreed that this is in the top 5 greatest things we have ever seen and Michelle thinks it could even be her number one, I did have to remind her about seeing me naked and then she put it as number 2!!
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