The same day we left the “beautiful” town of Gobernador Gregors, we arrived at El Calafate in the afternoon after mastering another dozens of kilometre on the famous route 40. Gravel of course… deep gravel… short stop, deflating tires… let’s go!!!
Even though the route 40 was a lot of fun again, the real highlight was the Perito Moreno Glacier located in the “Los Glaciares” National Park close by to El Calafate.
“Los Glaciares National Park is located in the Southwest of Santa Cruz Province in the Argentine part of Patagonia. Comprised of a National Park and a National Reserve it has a total surface area of 600,000 hectares. Los Glaciares owes its name to the numerous glaciers covering roughly half of the World Heritage property. Many of these glaciers are fed by the massive South Patagonian Ice Field, the most extensive South American relict of the glaciological processes of the Quaternary Period. In addition, there are impressive glaciers independent of the main ice field. The property therefore constitutes a massive freshwater reservoir.
The Upsala, Onelli and Perito Moreno Glaciers calve into the icy and milky waters of the huge Lake Argentino, which is partly included in the property. The most striking sight is the famous Perito Moreno Glacier. This large glacier blocks a narrow channel formed by Lake Argentino thereby raising the water level temporarily. This in turn causes regular thunderous ruptures of the glacier tongue into the lake.” Read more here.
When we entered the National Park we were quite surprised about the entrance fee which was like 30 or 40 Dollars and quite expensive for our taste. However, the nature and the scenery as well as the beautiful road which leads through the park was insanely beautiful.
Already after a couple of kilometres we could already see the magnificent glacier from a panoramic viewing platform, situated in between mountain ranges and lake Argentino. Simply beautiful…
What just looked stunning from the distance turned out even more spectacular once arriving at the closest viewpoint which revealed the complete beauty of this natural beauty. It was like a miracle!
A gigantic wall of cluttered deep blue ice arose in front of our eyes. It left me speechless while feeling simply small and meaningless compared to the “everlasting” beauty and miracle of nature.
What you don’t experience while simply looking at the pictures are the thunderous rifle-cracks which appear from time to time which still gives me goosebumps.
Furthermore, the magic of the combination of sunshine and ice… Just like god put his magic stick on the ice, enlightening a bright, deep blue firework . WOW!!!!
You gotta go there!!!!
