Today after a nice breakfast at the Patagonia Queen Hotel were were met by our guide, Poloma and our driver for a private tour of the Perrito Moreno glacier.
This glacier is massive and the entire city of Buenos Aires could fit on the surface of the ice. The highth is about 100 meters above the water surface and the depth can be as much as 200 meters below the surface.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perito_Moreno_Glacier
The drive to the park takes you out of town along a portion of Lago Argentina, a huge lake. We stopped for a photo opportunity of the mountains and lake with a partial rainbow.
We arrived at the entrance to the park and Paloma took care of our entry fees to the park that costs $500 pesos per person. Once in the park, you drive to the parking area of the glacier. We wanted to take an early boatride at 10:30 am to avoid the crush of tourists from the buses. This was a wise choice as our boat was only partially filled with perhaps 30 people. Once you are given the mandatory safety lecture about how you will die if you fall overboard, we were allowed on the top deck that is open to the elements.
As luck would have it, it started to rain as we left the dock. Of course if you are prepared with weatherproof jackets and head cover, this does not deter true adventurers. Armed with cameras and selfie-sticks, the passengers had a great opportunity to view the glacier face up close. I saw two calving events and Earline captured one in photographs. They are magnificent events as the glacier moves from the mountains to the lake at a speed of about a meter per day.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perito_Moreno_Glacier
The drive to the park takes you out of town along a portion of Lago Argentina, a huge lake. We stopped for a photo opportunity of the mountains and lake with a partial rainbow.
We arrived at the entrance to the park and Paloma took care of our entry fees to the park that costs $500 pesos per person. Once in the park, you drive to the parking area of the glacier. We wanted to take an early boatride at 10:30 am to avoid the crush of tourists from the buses. This was a wise choice as our boat was only partially filled with perhaps 30 people. Once you are given the mandatory safety lecture about how you will die if you fall overboard, we were allowed on the top deck that is open to the elements.
As luck would have it, it started to rain as we left the dock. Of course if you are prepared with weatherproof jackets and head cover, this does not deter true adventurers. Armed with cameras and selfie-sticks, the passengers had a great opportunity to view the glacier face up close. I saw two calving events and Earline captured one in photographs. They are magnificent events as the glacier moves from the mountains to the lake at a speed of about a meter per day.
Returning to the dock after about 1 hour, we then went to a second parking lot where you can walk several trails of varying difficulty because of elevation change. The yellow marked trail is the closest to the glacier face, the red trail takes you to the left side of the glacier and to where the southern arm of the Brazo Rico Lake is currently blocked by the glacier. The level of the water rises until eventually it breaks through the left side of the glacier, forming a bridge. With the river rushing through, the ice bridge eventually collapses and the process cycles again. The last time this occurred was in 2016 and it is expected to occur again this year.
The green trail takes you through the forest and we elected to only walk a portion of this trail as you can only look at the glacier for so long before questioning your sanity.
We had time for a quick lunch before returning to our hotel and took advantage of a typical meal at the restaurant near the boat dock rather than eat with a mass of crazy tourists at the trail head restaurant. Our tour was supposed to include a box lunch but there was a mix-up in communication and the typical dry sandwich, granola bar, chocolate bar and water were not ready. Instead, we were told to eat at the restaurant and that we would be reimbursed for our meal by the trfavel company. We were tempted to eat the expensive three course meal but we were not that hungry. Instead we chose the middle of the least expensive meals that had traditional fare and threw in a glass of vino tinto (red wine).
The green trail takes you through the forest and we elected to only walk a portion of this trail as you can only look at the glacier for so long before questioning your sanity.
We had time for a quick lunch before returning to our hotel and took advantage of a typical meal at the restaurant near the boat dock rather than eat with a mass of crazy tourists at the trail head restaurant. Our tour was supposed to include a box lunch but there was a mix-up in communication and the typical dry sandwich, granola bar, chocolate bar and water were not ready. Instead, we were told to eat at the restaurant and that we would be reimbursed for our meal by the trfavel company. We were tempted to eat the expensive three course meal but we were not that hungry. Instead we chose the middle of the least expensive meals that had traditional fare and threw in a glass of vino tinto (red wine).
Following lunch, we were returned to our hotel at about 3:30 pm for a quick rest before considering a visit to an ice bar this evening and for Earline to feed more street dogs.
Tomorrow, we have a full day tour of three glaciers by catamaran boat. We depart at about 7:15.
Tomorrow, we have a full day tour of three glaciers by catamaran boat. We depart at about 7:15.