The Perito Moreno Glacier is a huge glacier located in Los Glacieres National Park in the Santa Cruz region of Argentinian Patagonia.
We visited with our G Adventures group while we were staying in El Calafate which is 78 km away. Throughout the journey, our ‘glacier guide’ Alejandro explained more of the history of Patagonia and also about the glacier. He did this on the mini bus so that upon arrival we could maximise our time in looking at it rather than listening to him. (Although listening to him was entertaining… he was a good story teller…)
As we approached, the huge glacier came into view and our mini bus pulled over into a designated viewpoint.
Shortly afterwards we arrived at the entrance to the glacier and Alejandro pointed us in the direction of the different and extensive walkways which offered many continual viewpoints. After this short 5 minute briefing we had nearly 3 hours of free time to go and explore!
Perito Moreno is a popular tourist attraction due to its accessibility. Many other glaciers around the world are difficult to get to. The worlds largest glacier is called the Lambert Glacier which is about 400 km long, 80 km wide and 2,500 m deep but is located in Antarctica!
The 18,000 year old Perito Merino glacier began to form in the last Ice Age and was named after Francisco Merino. Unlike most other glaciers around the world this one is not receding.
As we walked around we could hear the ice creaking and groaning. Every so often a chunk of ice would fall off and crash down into the icy water.
The Perito Moreno Glacier is so spectacular some consider it to the the Eighth Wonder of the World!
At 19 miles long, 3 miles wide and 170 m deep this is huge but small in comparison to the Lambert Glacier mentioned above.
We spent nearly 3 hours walking around all of the walkways and stopping at various points to look at the glacier. Benches are dotted around and at around 12:15 I sat on one to eat my packed lunch (ordered from the hotel the previous night) with the above view in front of me.
Again, as had been the case throughout the trip, we were very lucky to have had clear and still weather for this visit. The glacier is sometimes partially hidden by mist and sometimes hit with high winds and heavy rain.
We re-grouped at 13:00 outside the visitor centre (with its cafe, gift shop and facilities) before the mini bus ride back to El Calafate.
Summary
The Perito Moreno Glacier is awe-inspiring and well worth a visit. I’m not sure of the entry cost as this was covered as part of our G Adventures tour but a visit is recommended! We had a fab group of people on this trip and made some great, if brief and short-lived new friendships.
This is the final post of this amazing adventure in Argentina – Bridget and I have been so fortunate to have experienced natural wonders such as the Laguna de los Tres and of course this, the Perito Moreno Glacier, as well as the amazing city of Buenos Aires with its tango and its diverse and colourful neighbourhoods and all of the bits of Patagonia in between.
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