We took a bus back to El Calafate where we took in the main attraction, the amazing Perito Moreno Glacier.

El Calafate Town

After checking into our small off the beaten path hotel we walked to the main drag for some excellent local lamb and steak. The town of El Calafate is very quaint and looks a bit like a European ski town. The hotel Lupama Hosteria, was very basic but adequate. It was up on a hill a few blocks from the main drag in El Calafate. The main drag had a bunch of nice restaurants, tons of shops and a casino.

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Perito Moreno Glacier Hike

The tour of the glacier started with a 1 hour bus ride to the ferry dock. Once there it was a short trip to a dock right adjacent to the glacier. One the way we took in the glory of the glacier which got bigger and bigger as we got closer and checked out the small icebergs. From there we were led to the beach for a brief talk and then to the huts where we were fitted for crampons. They were basically just strapped to whatever boots you were wearing and worked really well on the ice.

On the glacier we walked around both the crunchy stuff but also checked out the amazingly vivid blue clear ice. I've heard glaciers described as just dirty ice, and parts of it did just look like that. However the interesting parts were the compressed ice which turn a very vivid blue that is hard to describe. There were also cool crevices that just got darker and darker blue making it impossible to see how far down they go. After walking around a while we ended up in a valley where the guides pulled out glasses, filled them with ice chipped from the glacier and poured everyone some Whisky (or soda for the kids). What a great way to end the walk.

We then walked back to the hut and return the crampons. We had plenty of free time at that point to walk around and do what we wanted before the ferry ride back. We spent the time mostly just sitting on the rocks near the ferry dock watching the glacier calve and enjoying the snacks we brought.


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Perito Glacier Welcome Center

After going back to the dock we again boarded the bus and were taken to the top of the hill facing the glacier where there was a visitor center with many levels of walkways to give you various views of the glacier, from wide and panoramic to up close. There we were able to able to take in the whole glacier seeing both the north and south sides. While there we exeperience some glacier calvin, where chunks of the ice break off and fall into the water. Awesome!


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