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Perito Moreno Glacier, Patagonia, Argentina

I looked up Glacier in Wikipedia and it says "A glacier is a perennial mass of ice which moves over land. A glacier forms in locations where the mass accumulation of snow and ice exceeds ablation over many years... Glacier ice is the largest reservoir of fresh water on Earth, and is second only to oceans as the largest reservoir of total water"

Perito Moreno Glacier in Patagonia,Argentina is one of the few Patagonian glaciers that is not retreating. It's a couple of hours from El Calafate, Patagonia and I took a tour to go and visit it. The day I chose the visit it, we had pretty bad weather condition - it snowed very hard the entire way there and while I was there trekking around the park to see the Glacier from different views, we had a mini snow storm. I was not geared properly and i froze myself up. Was among the coldest I ever felt while there.

The glacier is a spectacular sight and it was amazing to see it up close and to gear the thundering noise of the ruptures of ice from the glaciers. It happens al day long when huge pieces of ice from the glacier break off and fall in the adjoining Lake.

There are tours to actually go and trek over the glaciers, but in the time I went, the weather did not permit such trekking.

Filed under // argentina cold glacier ice patagonia south america backpacking travel travelogue

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El Calafate, Patagonia, Argentina

El Calafate is a small town in Patagonia in Argentina, which serves as a base city to explore the neighboring Perino Moreno Glacier and El Chalten for great hiking. I was actually on my way to Ushuaia from Puerto Madryn and we had to change buses in Rio Gallegos. As I boarded my next bus, they handed us immigration forms. I was suprised as I thought it's from Argentina to Argentina - hence why the need for immigration. They told me there's no direct way from Rio Gallegos to Ushuaia. So we need to exit in Chile, do immigration and get back in Argentina again. Big problem for me, as I had only a single entry visa to Argentina :(( Fortunately, I realized that in time and before the bus left, got my bags out.

So, as I was stranded in Rio Gallegos, checked out the other buses and the best place to go from there was El Calafate and they had a few buses from there. So, that's how I ended up in El Calafate.

El Calafate is a nice little charming cold city. While driving there, it was snowing all the way to there and we got there in an all snowy white town. Was beautiful. The town does not have much in terms of attraction - but it has a nice frozen laze which we can walk on and see many pink flamingos. The great thing about El Calafate though is as it's low tourist season - I got a great deal - 60 pesos ($15 USD) for 3 nights accommodation at America Del Sur Hostel (it even had heated floors !))

The main thing to do from El Calafate is to do tours to Perino Moreno Glacier which I'll post in the next entry.