Time for another 18 hour bus trip which actually went past our next destination but was necessary as there was no direct road to El Calafate. So off we went via Rio Gallegos thinking we could stop there and grab a guinness seeing as it was Paddy´s day. With 6 hours between connecting buses we ventured around this small town for a bar but the best thing we came across was this English pub. How very spiffing.
The pub looked poo so we walked around a bit more and stumbled into two Irish girls who were on the same bus as us. With beers being pretty steep in the cafe we decided to celebrate Paddy´s day in style, and grab a drink from the supermarket and have it in the park! Rolling back the years! Of course the supermarket didn´t have any guinness but it still didn´t stop me looking for a good half hour. In the end I had to settle for Quilmes stout which was actually not that bad. And yes that is an Irish pair of legs in the right of the photo. At one point two policemen strolled by so we hid the drinnks not knowing what the public drinking rules were, but they didn´t seem to care with others drinking at the park too.
With our second bus getting us into El Calafate bus station at 1.30am, we shared a taxi with the Irish girls as they were at the same hostel and crashed out sleeping in past midday. Once awake, it was too late to do anything awesome so we just got our barings and looked around the town. With the main attraction of El Calafate being the advancing Glaciar Moreno, we booked into go see this the following day, spending a bit more so that we could actually go walking on it.
Waking up the next morning, eager to get going we were surprised to see this sky! No camera tricks here, this is just what it was like.
Another bus journey and we arrived in the national park and jumped on a boat which took us to the base of the glacier hike. With the view from the boat being this spetactular we couldn´t wait to get nearer.
I didn´t realise how massive this glacier was going to be, to get a sense here´s a 50 foot boat with the glacier about 100 feet behind it. It really was massive and is one of the few glaciers on the planet to still be advancing (can move up to 2 metres per day). It´s average height is about 240ft above the lake level, with its total height being around 560ft.
Jumping off the boat we had a small talk about the history and science of the glacier as well as a safety briefing. With a small walk through a wooded area, we arrived at the side of the glacier and were suited up in crampons. After being told to walk like a duck for maximum grip, we set off on the ice.
It was pretty spectacular, everywhere you looked having a different jagged ice scene. We followed the tour guide around, visiting crevices and ice water pools. Naturally I had to get down on hands and knees and suck some of that fresh ice water up, super refreshing. If you´re wondering what all the black stuff is, it´s just sediment blown by the winds which can be pretty strong, which is also a contributing factor to why the ice advances but it´s mainly to do with the ice being formed at the top of the moutain with gravity forcing the lower part downwards.
Just as we thought walking on an advancing glacier couldn´t get any cooler (no pun intended!) we got to a flat area where there was Jameson´s whiskey waiting for us! With freshly chipped glacier ice in our glasses, topped with whiskey we didn´t think life could get much better......until I was offered another one. Don´t mind if I do.
Getting off the glacier we were reminded of it´s enormity and had our packed lunch.
With a little time to mess around before getting back on the boat, I did exactly that. Perching on top of some rocks for a better view, we were treated to the show.....ice breaking off infront of our eyes as it advances. Most of the chunks breaking off were about 6ft maybe, which is still pretty big but nothing compared to what can break off! Still made a deafening sound though.
Back on the boat we were treated to a proper ice break, not that we caught it properly here but the whole height of the edge broke off and this is the splash it made in the lake. A good 200ft tall chunk of ice, maybe 20ft wide, slowly fell forwards from the top like a tree would fall, such an impressive sight.
After the first part of our day, we were taken to the viewing point where you could see the whole width of the north side of the glacier which really brought home how massive this thing is! We waited for a good 45 minutes to catch some more ice breaking, but with the sun behind the clouds, and a lot of ice breaking off in the morning we didn´t see anything big break off.
Not much else to report in El Calafate, other than this weird little ´museum´ which was about the discovery of patagonia and had some scenes of darwin and other explorers. Free to get in so worth a look.
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