After El Chalten, we took the bus back to El Calafate for a couple of days. We were minding our own business in town and who should pop up behind us but our stalkers. In fairness we were expecting them this time as we had all anticipated being here for a couple of days.
We, or probably more I, resisted temptation in the various shops with their sometimes seriously overpriced jewellery, and we met up with our stalkers in the evenings.
We left El Calafate in the safe knowledge that our stalkers would the next day be getting on an aeroplane heading well away from us, so we wouldn't bump into them again. But then we said that last time ........
Showing posts with label El Calafate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label El Calafate. Show all posts
Friday, February 3, 2012
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
El Calafate
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| El Calafate |
In the morning we got the early bus to El Calafate. And just to make me out to be a liar after my posting about the border crossings between Chile and Argentina, we made it through this one in just an hour and five minutes, which was a massive improvement on the previous times.
As we had only just managed to get the last couple of seats on a full bus, we figured we should buy our bus tickets for the next few trips as soon as we arrived, because undoubtedly everyone travelling with us, and those arriving on other buses, would have plans similar to ours.
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| Perito Moreno Glacier |
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| Perito Moreno Glacier |
The main purpose of being in El Calafate is to visit the Perito Moreno glacier in the nearby Los Glaciares National Park. The glacier is one of the biggest advancing glaciers in South America. The size of the glacier increases by one or two metres every day, but this is in part balanced by the fact that at the lower end, sections cleave off into the lake. We were visiting this lower end of the glacier where it meets the lake.
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| Perito Moreno Glacier |
We started off by taking a boat out to the face of the glacier. The boat doesn't go right up to the edge, as the pieces come off without any notice and, as well as potentially landing on you, they can create some fairly big waves when the fall.
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| Perito Moreno Glacier |
But still we were close enough to be able to appreciate the height of the glacier, which reaches well over 50 metres above the water, or the equivalent of a seventeen story building. Including the section below the water the height is around 170 metres. We could see some people walking on the glacier and they looked like ants on it.
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| Perito Moreno Glacier |
From the water, you could easily see the little caves that are created in the glacier and the different colours that form in it. The deeper blue colours often appear where water runs through. You can also see that the surface of the glacier is anything but smooth. It is a multitude of jagged peaks and crevices, and you could spend hours just looking at the different shapes that the ice forms itself into.
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| Perito Moreno Glacier |
After the boat trip we were dropped off closer to the glacier where you could see across the top of the glacier as it works its way down through the mountains.
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| Perito Moreno Glacier |
The Perito Moreno is around 97 square miles in size. The front edge is five miles wide. We followed a series of walkways to get down nearer to the edge of it for some amazing views of the ice.
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| Ice breaking off the Perito Moreno Glacier |
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| Ice breaking off the Perito Moreno Glacier |
We could hear the ice creaking and groaning as it moved, and we were lucky enough to see a number of pieces break off and drop into the lake. As they fall, they make a huge noise like a thunderclap, and then you see the waves spread out from the area where the piece fell. Occasionally a piece must break off from below the waterline, as you see a swell of water and then a chunk of ice bobs to the surface.
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| Perito Moreno Glacier |
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| Perito Moreno Glacier |
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| Perito Moreno Glacier |
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