El Calafate is a major tourist destination. Not because of the town itself, but because this is the dwelling which is closest to Parque Nacional de los Glaciares and there are a lot of attractions that can be reached from here.
And the #1 star ot the show is the glacier Perito Moreno, far more known than the town with the same name. When I planned this trip, I decided that of the things I saw on my first trip to Argentina, there was one I would return to, and that was Perito Moreno.
In difference to most other glaciers, Perito Moreno is not receding, but it is stable. And the reason it is not growing is that has run into a roadblock. To wit, the glacier runs over a narrow sound of Lago Argentino almost cutting off the upper part, Brazo Rico, when it bumps into land on the other side. Sometimes it dams Brazo Rico entirely, so that the water level rises, as much as 26 metres. But in the end the dam breaks in an orgy of crashing ice, something that happens every four or five years.
Because of the situation, it is possible to come really close to the glacier to watch it. On a bright sunny day, it can be quite a spectacle with ice blocks falling off about every minute. That was the case when I was there in 1997. This day, there was not that much sun, and I did not see that much – I only heard things falling and crashing.
The set starts and ends with some pictures taken on the way going there and back, and in betewen that there is a lot of ice.
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