Just arrived in El Calafate today… It is a very small and very touristic – and expensive – town… Located on the – guess what – border of Chile and only 80 km. from the famous Perito Morena glacier – the only glacier in the world whichgrows!
Not much to do here, except enjoy the largest lake in Argentina… Lago Argentino – 1466 sq. km. – and the glaciers (yes there are more than one). I am booked for a trip tomorrow (to Perito Morena) and the day after tomorrow (sailing on the lake and going to the glaciers)… Same story as in Ushuaia: a zillion to go on the trip, which doesn’t include anything but a seat in a bus for some hours. I am longing back to Guatemala, where a 12 hour 1st class bus trip was USD 20 or where a 6 hour shuttle from Antigua to Copan was USD 7…
I wnet on two trips here. Both to the Perito Moreno gletcher:
Perito Moreno bus trip: You pay ARS 150 ~ USD 40 for a 1½ hour bus ride each way. When you arrive, you pay an extra 75 ARS ~ USD 20 as park entry fee, and an extra 45 ARS ~ USD 15 for a ½ hour boat trip to the south side of the glacier. After that, you have 3 hours on your own at the glacier. Spectacular views, but really not worth it!
Lago Argentino navigation to all glaciers: 350 ARS ~ USD 80. Again excluding park entry fee (75 ARS ~ USD 20). This trip is very very good. You sail in the fjords and see icebergs, and if there were less icebergs, you would see 3 glaciers, including Upsala (yes: Named after the city in Sweden, because their university was the first to explore this place!)… However, because of a lot of ice we couldn’t go the Upsala, so we got to go to … Perito Moreno instead… On the way we visited Oneil and Spitzberg glaciers…
And at Perito Merino we were in for a treat… A part of the glacier broke down for our very eyes… Spectacular and mind boggeling. DEFINTE A MU DO…
