*Our Patagonia trip was from 28 November to 19 December 2016.
After 5 wonderful days in El Chalten, we boarded the 8am bus to El Calafate, which was a mere 3 hour ride away. Located near the southern Argentinian end of the Patagonian Ice Field, El Calafate is widely known as the gateway to Los Glaciares National Park and, of course, the world renowned Perito Moreno Glacier.
Upon arriving at El Calafate, we checked into our accommodation for the next two days – El Puente Apartments. The room was spacious with a king-sized bed and a super single bed, and well-equipped with a kitchenette and an en-suite bath, as well as wi-fi connection and cable TV.
The place was clean and well-maintained, with a perfectly manicured lawn – couldn’t resist taking a picture with the pretty roses! The weather was perfect, and we were soon greeted by our friendly furry friend.
Service was prompt and the owner was friendly – we even had a welcome bread basket, which was exactly what we needed after a long bus ride. All this for only USD 67 per pax! Awesome.
Verdict:
Cabanas El Puente
Address: Avenida Del Libertador 647,
El Calafate Z9405AHE, Argentina
(within walking distance from the main bus depot)
We washed up and then quickly made our way to the bus terminal for our highlight of the day… the Perito Moreno Glacier!
Ta-da!
The Perito Moreno Glacier is undoubtedly one of the things that this region is famous for – throngs of tourists come in busloads to El Calafate just to visit Perito Moreno. It is the 3rd largest glacier field in the world, coming only after Antarctica and Greenland. An amazing fact about this glacier is that it has actually been advancing since the 1900s, unlike most other glaciers which have been retreating over time.
After a two hour bus ride from El Calafate, we finally reached our destination!
We spent five hours on the walking circuit. It was well-designed, providing us with opportunities to view the glacier from different elevations and vantage points. The various trails were also well-marked with an indication of the difficulty level to cater to the different needs of visitors.
And now, we’ll let the pictures do the talking 🙂
Perito Moreno glacier was immense – we were awestruck. You might wish to check out our short video of the glacier here.
What was even more amazing was, from time to time, we could hear a loud thunderous clap that sounded like an avalanche was happening. Before we knew it, we witnessed parts of the glacier collapsing into the lake beneath it due to the warm afternoon sun! Watch our video here.
Perito Moreno was simply amazing beyond words.
And one for the album! 🙂
Verdict:
(must visit!)
Perito Moreno Glacier
Address: Los Glaciares National Park, Argentina
The visit to Perito Moreno Glacier so piqued our interest that we decided to head to the Glaciarium the next day to learn more about glaciers! Yes… geo-geeks in the making, heh 😀
We boarded the free shuttle bus and within 30 minutes, we arrived at the glaciarium. The glaciarium is only accessible by this shuttle bus, or by car. It was literally in the middle of nowhere. Haha.
No photographs were allowed beyond this point, but dare we say that it was really informative. There were interactive exhibits of the world’s glaciers, and of course, lots of information on the Patagonian ice fields. There was also an interesting aerial video of natural attractions around El Calafate. We learnt quite a bit about glaciers from this visit!
Verdict:
Glaciarium El Calafate
Address: A 5′ de El Calafate,
camino al glaciar Perito Moreno
Ruta 11 km 6.
We spent the rest of the day shopping for souvenirs, and El Calafate, being a very touristy town, was not lacking in this aspect. Still, the stuff were a tad pricey and we had to watch our purse-strings!
Souvenir and handicraft shops everywhere!
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*This is a non-sponsored post.
xoxo,
The Bears
