DAY 79 (2 OF 2) – PERITO MORENO GLACIER, PARQUE NACIONAL LOS GLACIARES (SOUTH), EL CALAFATE, ARGENTINA

We left El Chalten in a rainy morning. Three hours of bus ride took us to El Calafate, a small town by the lakefront of Lago Argentina with facilities catered for all types of travellers who come for only one reason – Perito Moreno Glacier. Almost no visitor would leave Southern Patagonia without seeing Perito Moreno Glacier, the most famous glacier in South America. We arrived in El Calafate at about 1pm, just in time to catch the last bus (2pm) to the glacier. Rainy weather persisted well into the afternoon. We knew it would be a wet day for us, but some said a grey day was actually better for photographing the blue tones of the glacier. The visitor centre at Perito Moreno was full of tourists. Everyone was wet and cold from the rain. After having some snacks at the café, we then descended down to the viewing walkways. Nothing could quite prepare us for the first view to Perito Moreno. The gigantic ice wall was full of shades of blue with occasional thunder-like roars of carved ice falling into the lake. There wasn’t enough time for us to fully explore the extensive walkway system. We chose a platform closest to the rupture area of the glacier, set up our tripod and took some timelapse videos in the rain. We stayed for about two hours until it was time for us to catch the bus at 7pm.