My Europe travel companion and I flew from Buenos Aires for 3 and a half hours south to El Calafate and the entrance to Argentina's spectacular Los Glaciers National Park. The town has been growing rapidly as the fame of the Park has steadily spread. We overnighted two nights there and were picked up the first morning to have a guided tour into the south end of the great park with its unforgettable, vast Perito Moreno Glacier and the Lago Argentina. The bus ride west into the Park took about an hour. We went from El Calafate on the edge of the wind swept Patagonian steppes, into the trees and mountains on the Andes east side. The P. Moreno glacier drains from the immense Patagonian Ice Fields and grounds on a low hill that is now laced with wonderful walkway trails. You go from the hill top down the steep face of the hill to many viewing points directly across the from the center of the glaciers 200 to 300 foot face. One feels like you are so close that you could throw a baseball and hit the towering ice walls. Then we walked along the lake on one side to the lower lodge and viewing center to catch our bus again. Our bus took us a short distance to the lake edge and boat dock for an hours long boat ride out and along very close to the towering ice walls of the glacier. The almost ever present cold wind swept down off the vast glacier. It was an experience to never forget.
Our little El Calafate hotel, the Cauquenes De Nimez
Looking east across Lago Argentina toward the dry, windswept Patagonian Steppes
Looking west from the edge of El Calafate towards the Andes and the vast Patagonian Ice Fields
The Calafate bushes and popular berries
Looking down from the top of the park viewing trails and walkways towards Perito Moreno Glacier
part way down the walkways, with the vast Moreno Glacier in front
Sign showing the 200 to 300 vertical faces of the huge glacier, grounded directly in front, with the glacier in the lakes on both sides
Half way down on the walkway system with its many viewing platforms
Yours truly enjoying the incredible view on a lovely, sunny day
The view we had from the lakeside trail back around to the lower lodge and our bus
Close up view of the stunning face of the glacier from our boat
A slightly more distant view of the glacier and how it is grounded directly in front of the park trails and walkways on the right. Note the rough windswept water.
Another view of the glacier face near the middle of this lake
And a much closer view from the boat of the towering ice walls
A photo of the view from the road as we started back to El Calafate
Me on a viewing platform about half way down the walkway trails
A photo of me on the boat as we started back from the glacier to the boat dock.
No comments:
Post a Comment