Day 13 - El Calafate

Today's highlight was the reason for our first visit to Argentina - the Perito Moreno Glacier.

In advance, we had already booked a trekking tour on the glacier itself, which was scheduled to start at 11 am. To somewhat escape the crowds, we had an early breakfast to be on site at the park's opening around 8 am. The one-hour drive with the rental car was relaxed, and since we had bought the tickets online the night before, there was no need to queue at the entrance.

We parked the car in the empty parking lot and could already see from there how the huge ice masses extended from the mountains into the lake.

Well-maintained paths and stairs led to various viewpoints, which were reachable in a few minutes and provided an incredible view of the glacier. The Perito Moreno Glacier is the most famous glacier in South America and one of the few that is not shrinking but rather growing, with the central part moving up to two meters towards the coast. It reaches around 60-70m above the water, with another 120m below. All the pictures we took do not even begin to convey how large and impressive the glacier appeared when we stood in front of it.

It didn't take long for the first ice blocks to fall into the water, sounding like loud thunder. We could have surely watched the spectacle for hours, but then we made our way to the boat dock to start the trekking tour. We sailed past the ice wall on a catamaran and were even more amazed by the incredible height. Moreover, we had picked one of the average three days per month with no clouds in the sky and complete calm. After a short snack break, we set off with two guides to the ice field and saw once again how huge blocks broke off the glacier, fell into the water, and caused meter-high waves. Before stepping onto the ice, we had to put on crampons and helmets, which may not look fancy but were meant for safety.

In groups of 10-12 people, we then started walking a few hundred meters over the ice while the guides shared numerous interesting information about the glacier (formation, colors, dimensions, etc.). We passed by smaller glacier crevasses, deep meltwater falls, and the countless different shades of blue in the ice were unique. To conclude the tour, we had a glass of whisky with glacier ice - one of the few opportunities where the ice is older than the whisky itself. We then walked back through a wooded area to the boat, which took us back to the mainland in just 20 minutes.

In the late afternoon, we arrived at the hostel, took a relaxed shower, and wanted to try Argentinean national dish for dinner.