We arrived at the Posta Sur hotel in El Calafate around 10:45pm and quickly got our room key. The room was like a sauna and were were unable to find a thermostat, so we cracked the window and crashed. I felt like I was sleeping in a dehydrator!
Breakfast was similar with sweets, croissants, cereal and yop-like yogurt, bread and ham and cheese. The group was off in our minibus to travel to the Perito Moreno Glacier. Alejandro was our park guide who provided us with a lesson about the glacier formation and geology of the area. It was very informative. As we approached the first view of the glacier, he asked us to close our eyes for luck and gave us a countdown. When we opened our eyes, we were in view of the most active, but stable glacier in the world! Our first viewpoint was 7.5km away but it seemed much closer due to its massive size.
Jody and I, along with Gary, Gerard and our New Jersey counterpart, Erin boarded a catamaran to get a close up view (about 500m away from the 40m high south face). We spent about an hour on the boat, crashing over mini icebergs and being mesmerized by the ice wall. We saw a few mini calvings, when pieces of the glaciers fall away and crash into the lake.
(From the trip notes: The Argentino Lake, discovered in 1873, is the southernmost of the four water sheets produced by the Pleistocene Glaciation. With its fjords and fingers it covers 1,505km² and is considered one of the most breathtaking lakes in the world. The Perito Moreno Glacier is an imposing river of ice, 2.7km (1.7 mi) wide by 55m (180 ft) high, which descends from the continental ice field to the Canal de los Tempanos).
We continued within the Los Glaciares National Park, walking along a extensive boardwalk platform which provided wicked views of the south, central and north face of the glacier. It was a bit chilly, but the sun was shining and we had our box lunch while staring at the glacier face and waiting for pieces to fall. Frequent cracks would catch everyone’s attention, but usually there was no calving in sight.
We could have watched the glacier all afternoon, but we headed up to meet the group at the restaurant where they were serving whiskey with glacier ice.
Back on the bus, Alejandro provided more commentary along the way, sharing Argentinian history and glacier facts along the way. We stopped at a bird sanctuary and saw some flamingos in the distance.
Our guide did not have supper plans for us, so after doing some hand washing in the room, we headed out with a bag of laundry to drop off in town…a 2kg bag for 150 ARG Pesos – I need this laundry service at home! Hoping to get it all back at 2pm tomorrow! On recommendation, we landed at happy hour at La Destileria, and enjoyed a Patagonia Gin and Tonic, Aperol Spritz and wine (2 for 1). I had a pulled guanaco sandwich. A guanaco is a camelid native to South America, which kinda looks like a llama/alpaca- it was quite tasty. We finished off supper with a gelato treat and a visit to the grocery store for some wine.
