31/03/2023 to 02/04/2023 - Perito Moreno Glacier & El Calafate / Argentina

We didn't stay long in Puerto Natales. Our bus started at 7 o'clock in the morning. We traveled for a good 5 hours until we reached El Calafate. This is a small town in Argentina. It has only a few inhabitants, but many tourists and they all come because of the Los Glaciares National Park. But more on that later. We stayed in a hotel for 4 nights, a little outside the town, but with a great view over Lake Argentino. With a size about three times the size of Lake Constance, it is the largest lake in Argentina, over 15,000 years old. The western end of the lake extends to the Andes and is highly branched. Some glaciers of the southern ice field flow into the lake there. After arriving at the hotel, we settled in and drove back to the city. We bought a few small things, had dinner at a restaurant, and found out about the tours offered in the national park. They were all too uncomfortable for us, so we made a fixed price with a taxi driver for the entire next day.

After a leisurely breakfast at the hotel, the taxi driver picked us up and took us to the Los Glaciares National Park. It took about 30 minutes to get to the entrance, we bought the tickets and then drove almost 45 minutes through the national park until we arrived at the pier. First, we took an hour-long boat ride on the north side of the Perito Moreno Glacier. But now back to the national park. The Los Glaciares National Park translates to "the glaciers". The name is perfect for the region where the ice giants are located. The glaciers belong to the Patagonian ice field, the largest ice field outside of Antarctica. The park is located in the Argentine part of Patagonia and covers an area of ​​4,459 square kilometers. It was founded in 1937 and was included on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1981. It consists of forests, granite mountains in the north, lakes, some smaller and three larger glaciers. The Perito Moreno Glacier, formerly Bismarck Glacier, also belongs to it. We sailed, of course with enough distance, along the ice, which rises up to 60 meters here. The ice has formed different formations and shimmers in different shades of blue. The sun slowly came out and it now sparkled as well. We enjoyed the impressive view. After mooring the boat again, we hiked for about two hours along the paths that were created to view the glacier from various angles. We couldn't get enough of it. There was always crashing and thundering when pieces of ice broke off and plunged into Lake Argentino. That was really a gigantic natural spectacle. The glacier is 30 kilometers long, covers an area of ​​254 square kilometers, and contrary to all predictions of global warming, it is growing.

The next day we slept in again, strolled a bit through the small town along the shore of Lake Argentino, observed many birds, and had a delicious meal.