Patagonia II: El Calafate

After enjoying bright sunny beach days with penguins, whales, elephant seals, sheep, and guanacos, we moved on with a little under 2-hour plane ride to El Calafate. This area of Patagonia is known for its world famous glaciers and we planned two full days of excursions to see the best ones. The first day we went on a big catamaran from Punta Bandera Port and sailed along the Argentino Lake to reach the Upsala and Speggazini Glaciers and Onelli Bay. The boat was surprisingly comfortable with nice leather seats and a bar and we didn't get any seasicknesses even though it was a full day tour. Here you'll see some of our favorite views from the boat:

This short video shows the view as we pass by the Spegazzini Glacier. It's the highest glacier in the National Park and it's a rather amazing view.

The second day's excursion was the real highlight of our El Calafate trip: trekking over the Perito Moreno glacier, which is the most famous of the National Park and the only one that is not receding. We took a boat to a small landing area in the woods near the glacier, put on our snow trekking shoes, and started on an hour and a half walk across the glacier. This experience is somewhat hard to put into words and the pictures don't even do it justice. The air was so fresh and crisp and you could hear running water whenever you stepped over a crack in the ice. After the trek, we stopped at a part of the glacier where the guide had set up Patagonian whiskey and he served it over freshly cut glacier ice!

Next and final stop on our trip will be just 80 kilometers from Bariloche. Stay tuned!