OK patagonia is so fun we have not been faithful to keeping the blog up to date, sorry (not sure anyone out there really minds but i dislike holding so many cool pictures and story from those who do).
Down here is southern Patagonia Chile and Argentina intertwine into a patchwork of confusion. So from Puerto Natales and Torres Del Paine we crossed back into Argentina and traveled north. This part of the trip required some out of the way backtracking. However the rewards were worth it!
Calafate is a dusty windy gateway town to the Perito Moreno glacier. Tourism is in full building mode here and we benefited from some of that. This touristy town was fun wander about and shop for fun "patagonia" stuff. Rejoining our Swiss friends from the boat we hired a taxi to take us to the glacier the following day.
The taxi was a great way to make our own itinerary and with 4 it was cheaper. Arriving at the glacier about 8:30 we had the place to ourselves! This massive glacier is currently sliding and expanding its footprint. The southern ice cap here adornes most of the southern Andes and is one of the only in the world that is currently expanding.
The glacier itself is very active as it groans, cracks and calves into the lakes it touches. AS it grows it blocks one lake from the other, the water pressure builds up over time and breaks through creating a natural ice bridge. As time passes the ice bridge then collapses with amazing force. Strangely this occured back in july this year (winter-time) and we remeber seeing it on the news but did not understand. After a visit we now understand why it was such a big deal, usually it happens only every 4 years and in the summer.
Needless to say the face of this glacier was truly massive and very impressive! The cold face creates weather that is crisp and windy.
Having th place to ourselves we meandered about the walkways taking in all of the prospectives. We tried to get on a boat to take a different viewpoint however the icebergs had blocked the dock and it took them all day to wrangle and clear the docking area.
Returning to watch some of the calving (chunks of ice breaking off and crashing into the water) we were no longer alone, the buses had arrived. So after a while and about 5 good chunks falling we simply took our taxi back to town, made a nice lunch and took a siesta.
We also booked our tickets to Chalten to see Fitzroy!!!!!!!
1 comment:
Which taxi company? Cost? How long were you gone from El Calafate?
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