Post by Ella
Here are a few facts. The Perito Moreno Glacier is 250 km2 (97 sq mi), 30 km (19 mi) in length, and is one of 48 glaciers fed by the Southern Patagonian Ice Field located in the Andes. This ice field is the world’s third largest reserve of fresh water. Up until recently it was holding its own, even growing a little. Lately, this glacier has begun to lose ground…or maybe I should say – water.
The glacier is 80 km from the town of El Calafate. To get there, one can take a public bus, join a day tour, rent a car, or hire a car with driver. The public bus only made two journeys a day which didn’t offer us much flexibility. Option 4 was our choice for this venture. In a town where tourism seems to be the only thing keeping it alive, and being just past peak season, there was no problem finding a car service at the last moment.
Nicklaus picked us up at 9:30 sharp. His English was spotty, our Spanish spottier, but still, we managed. After leaving town, the first part of the drive parallels Lake Argentina. The notorious Patagonian wind whipped across the lake creating whitecaps in stark contrast to the sparkling blue water.
I’ll stop here as the internet in our AirBnB here is pretty spotty. Just think of us bouncy and swaying along the wind whipped road and then twisting our way along a narrow national park road as we made our way to the magnificent wall of frozen water. More photos to come.
