El Calafate and Glaciar Perito Moreno, Argentina

Country: Argentina
Town: El Calafate
Duration: 2 days
Accommodation: America del Sur Hostel

El Calafate is a town in the region of Patagonia in the South of Argentina.  It is the gateway to Parque Nacional Los Glaciares where you can not only see but trek on glaciers! The glacier park consists of 47 glaciers and a further 200 smaller glaciers which are independent of the main ice field. 

Perito Moreno Glacier is one of Patagonia's most spectacular glaciers and is very accessible from El Calafate (78km apart).

The huge ice  formation has a surface area of 250 sq km and is 5km wide and 30km long!! The face of the glacier has ice walls of 60m in height!! 

Day 1:

We flew to El Calafate because to get there by bus from Buenos Aires it would have taken two full days! However, paying extra for the flight was definitely worth it. When we arrived at the hostel the receptionist booked us on a glacier mini trek for the following day with the company ‘Hielo Y Aventura’ (Ice Adventure). We then walked down the town and to the lake, Lago Argentino and to the nearby lagoon. It was so cold but very pretty. 

We ate in a restaurant that night called Don Pichon, which was just beside our hostel. As it was on a hill, there was a beautiful view of the town with all the twinkling lights. I had lamb (a speciality in Patagonia) which was devine! Probably the nicest meal that I had in South America! *Recommended! Johnny's steak was really good too but was nearly disappointed after tasting mine! Don't you just hate food envy!?

Day 2:
We travelled 78km to the Glacier National Park. Our destination was Glaciar Perito Moreno. From the bus we admired the green colour of the lake, the snow capped mountains and the icebergs floating in the water. The first glimpse of the glacier was breathtaking! I had never seen anything like it before. 

We had one hour to view the glacier from the various balconies. It was the best view I had even seen! We were extremely lucky to see three ruptures during that hour! This is when some ice breaks off from the glacier and collapses into the water. You could hear the sound of the ice cracking and the extremely loud crash when the enormous load hit the water. It was incredible to witness.

We then got transported to our boat which brought us across the lake to the side of the glacier. It was freezing but there was such a great view of the glacier. 

After lunch in the wooden cabin, we set off across the woods until we came to the glacier. We had crampons fastened to our shoes and before we knew it we were trekking up the glacier! We spent an hour and a half walking around on top of the glacier. There were so many shapes created by the melting of the ice and many pools with drop holes.

Before we came down from the glacier, our guide pulled out a bottle of whiskey! He broke off some ice from the glacier for us to put into our glasses!

That night our room mate from Israel who was touring South America with his orchestra, invited us to dinner (all expenses paid!) to make up for keeping us awake the previous night with his incredibly loud snoring! I had lamb again but was no comparison to Don Pichon's.  :(

Day 3:
When we woke up it was snowing in El Calafate!! We had a great view from the breakfast area in the hostel of the lake and mountains in the distance.

Our next stop was Puerto Madryn, 25 hours away by bus!