Postcard from Patagonia

Several weeks ago, Wendy and I were in Argentina. I did a seminar for Pepsico (South American Foods) at the Andean town of Bariloche.

The highlight of trip was the time we spent much farther south at the Perito Moreno Glacier near El Calafate.

 

El Calafate is located on Lago Argentina in the very south of Patagonia (see map, above left).  On the right is a Google satellite photo showing the Perito Moreno Glacier heading into Lago Argentina.

 

We drove for 75 minutes from El Calafate to an embarkation point in Glacier Nat'l Park. Then we took a 30 minute boat ride.

 

And then — wow! The Perito Moreno Glacier.

It's one of the few glaciers that's actually growing each year. It is 3 miles wide. It rises 200 feet out of the water (and is 400 feet underwater for total thickness of 600 feet). It advances about 6 feet a day and loses mass at almost the same rate.

We saw the glacier "calve" four or five times while we were there. Huge chunks would break off into the water and send big ripples far out into the lake. The sound was loud.

 We spent 2.5 hours climbing on the glacier (wearing crampons, of course). What a thrilling experience!

The water was quite tasty. And the blues — well, they were glacier blue! Here's Wendy drinking some very fresh glacier water.

Late afternoon return from the glacier. One of my top twenty days ever.

Comments

[Vince Namura]

Breathtaking. I'd love to go there.

[dario]

I went to Calafate two years ago... and it was so perfect to be there. Nature, weather, warming people... Glad that you were in my country... A couple of photos can be seen here: http://www.flickr.com/people/calafate/