El Calafate, Perito Moreno Glacier – Patagonia Argentina

The main thing to see in this area is the National Park ‘Los Glaciares’.. Located 80 km west of town, there is a paved road until you get to the park entrance. The glacier is awesome at 30km (20miles) long, 70 meters (230ft) above the waters surface, and it has a total surface of 257km. There are three levels of the viewing platform. You can stay as long as you want and snap as many pictures as you want. If you are lucky you will observe some calf while you are there. You can also go for a walk near the glacier or go for a ride on the tour boat.

Undoubtedly, the biggest attraction in this corner of Patagonia, is the Perito Moreno Glacier. This is an awesome giant, one of the great natural wonders of the world. At a time when virtually all the world’s glaciers are retreating the Perito Merino is advancing, albeit very slowly. As the ice pushes forward large chunks break off the terminus, maintaining almost a state of equilibrium. It’s the forward pressure of the ice that creates the groans and creaks that make the ice seem almost a living creature. Add to that the exquisite beauty of the ice, its myriad shades of blue and near pristine state and it’s no wonder that, of all the glaciers in the National Park, the Perito Merino is the one that is not to be missed.

A monstrous river of ice, 30km long, it snakes its way down the mountain to collide with the Magallanes Peninsula that splits the 5km long terminus in two, the gigantic ice cliffs forming a south and a north face. Trekking on the glacier is possible, guided walks are a popular way of getting really up close and personal with the monster, but for others their visit will be less strenuous but no less awe-inspiring. Whether you visit the glacier on an organized tour, or make your own way there, be sure to take a boat ride out across the lake to the glacier’s face. This will bring you far closer to the jagged 60 meters high cliffs that tower above the boat, giving you an extraordinary perspective of the glacier’s face and a real sense of just how high and grand they are.

The colors are extraordinary beautiful, blues of every shade and depth, everything from the palest, virtually white through to deep indigo, some seeming lit from within, others casting an almost ethereal light. Juxtaposed with colors of the lake water – one minute milky aqua, the next pewter grey, as the sun comes and goes behind the clouds, and the snowy white of the ice in the water it’s all a scene straight from a fairy tale.

The Ice Festival in Bahia Redonda (Redonda Bay)

Every year the Ice Festival takes place in the Redonda Bay where is located the city of El Calafate, Patagonia Argentina. The scene of the festival is that bay, which covers an area of 700 hectares that every winter become frozen because of the repeated sub-zero temperatures since the beginning of winter. This freezes and turns into a giant ice rink to be the natural stage a runway largest in South America for the development of skating and other activities on ice. It has an area of 4 km long and 3 km wide and with a depth ranging from 2 m to 40 cm deep at the least. The last week of July takes place the opening party. There are shows and exhibitions of figure skating and ice hockey. That first weekend of the festival also includes the Ice parade of flags and flares, ice sculptures and a sled competition.

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