Chile/Argentina - Perito Moreno Glacier

 We overnighted in the town of El Calafate and spent the morning at Los Glaciares National Park.  Unlike the blue skies on my first visit almost ten years ago, this time it was a cold and very windy day, making it almost unpleasant to be out.  But we put up with it as it was the only rough day in the more than two weeks we've been on the road. 

Unlike most glaciers in the world that are retreating because of climate change, the Perito Moreno Glacier is one of the few that are still pushing forward.  As a result of its continuous forward movement, there is constant calving.  We were lucky to witness calving in a cave that resulted in a spectacular collapse of the cave sides - all this happening right in front of our viewing platform.

The low clouds over the glacier made the top of the glacier difficult to see, same as on my previous visit.  But the interplay of light and clouds resulted in a constantly changing landscape.  The images below are from the few hours we spent at the glacier.  You may find different shots of the same views but I shared them because the changing light changed the perspective.

I have to say my previous visit yielded different perspectives of the glacier, including the impressive closeup view from the boat cruise to the front of the glacier.  Check out the earlier blog post here.  

Perito Moreno Glacier

Close up view of the front

Close up of the head of the glacier

Left and right flank of the glacier

The cave collapse sequence...

The top surface of the glacier

The mountains around the glacier

The glacier viewpoints are accessible via wheelchair ramps and many miles of boardwalk.

And then just as we were leaving, a rainbow!

Next post - El Chalten

Patagonia - Perito Moreno Glacier, El Calafate

After a long 6 hour drive (with stops) across the Patagonian steppes, we arrived back in Argentina in El Calafate, itself a tourist town catering to visitors to the nearby Perito Moreno Glacier, one of 47 glaciers in Los Glaciares National Park. The glacier was our main destination and as part of the affiliation with National Geographic, we got a glacier specialist to give us a talk on glaciers and also act as our guide at the glacier the following morning. 
 
The glacier was stunning as you can see below.  According to the local guide, this was the only non-retreating glacier in the world because it has somehow maintained a perfect balance in spite of climate change.  That, in itself was a phenomenon.  

Travel inside the park was by park shuttle only and just as we arrived at the glacier, we heard a thunderous clap - we turned around and saw a huge chunk of the glacier calving and a huge wave when the ice hit the water.  That was a spectacular sight that we could only recall in our mind's eye as no one was quick enough to capture it. There were going to be quite a few more such occurrences during the day.  It seemed that by the time we heard the sound, it would already be too late or the calving was not in the direction our cameras were pointing. I was able to catch the last half of a calving while we were on the boat tour which took us just slightly closer to the glacier although not really that much because of safety concerns over calving.

We had two excellent dinners while we were in El Calafate, including an asado which I will write up later on Foodsparks, the food blog.

Perito Moreno glacier

The glacier looked very small from the highway with the surrounding mountains

The person provided a sense of scale

Our first sighting of a condor that was close enough to capture on camera on this trip. It was flying over the glacier and I was thinking it's too late but pulled out my camera anyway. Good thing I did as it took a turn and flew up our way!

A piece at the foot of the glacier that had an ice cave

This was the large chunk that fell off just as we arrived and caused a huge wave. That was the reason why boats were not allowed to get close to the glacier.

The amazing surface of the glaicer

The "tongue"

The "teeth"

An ice cave in the glacier

Calving...

After the calving, the fresh exposed surface was bluer than the rest

"Symmetry"

A small "iceberg"

The view of the plains on the road to El Calafate

Next stop: Ushuaia - the southern most town in the world, according to Argentina...