Bus El Calafate to Ushuaia, 7 December 2007
As always it was again time to move on & we caught the 1pm bus from El Chalten back to El Calafate. The only thing we were keen to do here was visit the Perito Moreno Glacier (78 km from El Calafate). We checked into our room in a lovely HI affiliated hostel. Claire was delighted to find a bath in our en suite, she hadn´t experienced a bath since she broke the rules up in Pucon & ran one for herself in the shared bathroom.
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Not too much to say about El Calafate, it appears to be a one trick pony - Perito Moreno. That said it is a good trick. The glacier was awesome, while we had seen some beautiful ones in El Chalten - Perito Moreno is on a completely different scale - it fills an entire valley as far as the eye can see. Huge chunks of ice calf off sporadically creating a thunderous roar. The man made walkways allow you to get down in front, up above & slightly to both sides of the glacier. Click, click, click. .
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We spent about 4 hours at the glacier before sadly it was time to head back to El Calafate. I (Dave - Claire doesn´t agree on this one) would put the PM glacier in the same league as Iguazzu Falls & Salar de Uyuni when discussing wonders of South America.
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Getting back to the hostel at 10pm we were lucky to be able to stay in a cosy common area while waiting for our 3am bus! We got talking to two Cork lads (travelling for same amount of time as us) - they had some funny stories. They were robbed at gunpoint twice in Venezuela & once in Colombia. Okay maybe they were only funny stories in hindsight. They also did a few jungle trips where their bodies were devoured with bugs. Claire´s worst nightmare. The time went by quickly & before we knew it we were on the bus whizzing our way to the southernmost city in the world - Ushuaia.
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We hadn't realised that we´d have to cross into Chile then back into Argentina to get there - lots of border formalities & more stamps on the passport. You also had to eat or dispose of all (frutas)fruit, (verduras) veg, (queso) cheese etc before entering Chile.... we weren´t even getting off the bus in Chile! Everyone enjoyed a healthy breakfast of apples, bananas, carrots & even canned pineapple. The border crossings were quick & painless & we arrived in Ushuaia 1 hour early at 9pm. Our Aparthotel La Posta, was a 25 minute walk from center - what it lacked in location it made up for in everything else.
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Sleeping Beauty!
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Glacier Facts:
The Perito Moreno Glacier is one of only three Patagonian glaciers that are not retreating. Periodically the glacier advances over the L-shaped Lago Argentino forming a natural dam which separates the two halves of the lake when it reaches the opposite shore. With no escape route, the water-level on the Brazo Rico side of the lake can rise by up to 30 meters above the level of the main lake. The enormous pressure produced by this mass of waters finally breaks the ice barrier holding it back, in a spectacular rupture event. This dam/rupture cycle is not regular and it naturally recurs at any frequency between once a year to less than once a decade.
The terminus of the Perito Moreno Glacier is 5 km wide, with an average height of 60m above the surface of the water, with a total ice depth of 170 meters. It advances at a speed of up to 2m per day (around 700m per year), although it loses mass at approximately the same rate, meaning that aside from small variations, its terminus has not advanced or receded in the past 90 years. At its deepest part, the glacier has a depth of approximately 700 m.
The glacier first ruptured in 1917, taking with it an ancient forest of arrayan (Luma apiculata) trees. The last rupture occurred in March 2006. It ruptures, on average, about every four to five years.
The terminus of the Perito Moreno Glacier is 5 km wide, with an average height of 60m above the surface of the water, with a total ice depth of 170 meters. It advances at a speed of up to 2m per day (around 700m per year), although it loses mass at approximately the same rate, meaning that aside from small variations, its terminus has not advanced or receded in the past 90 years. At its deepest part, the glacier has a depth of approximately 700 m.
The glacier first ruptured in 1917, taking with it an ancient forest of arrayan (Luma apiculata) trees. The last rupture occurred in March 2006. It ruptures, on average, about every four to five years.
The Perito Moreno glacier was named after the explorer Francisco Moreno, a pioneer who studied the region in the 19th century and played a major role in defending the territory of Argentina in the conflict surrounding the international border dispute with Chile.
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