After our brief stop in Puerto Natales we crossed the border into Argentina and drove north to El Calafate. El Calafate is the most touristic town we’ve visited so far.  It has good infrastructure and facilities for tourists and many fine places to eat and drink.  However it is a busy place to visit after being in the sleepy towns of Patagonia.  It seems to exist primarily because of the Perito Moreno glacier, a stunning glacier in the southern sector of Los Glaciares National Park.  Perito Moreno glacier is unusual because instead of receding it advances at a rate of 2m per day.  It is 30km long, 5km wide and 60m high.  Massive!  Giant icebergs the size of buildings carve off the face of the glacier and collapse into the channel below.  It sounds like a gun going off and is an amazing thing to watch.  To visit it, you walk along a series of boardwalks across from the glacier which allows you to see it from different angles.  This makes it one of the most accessible attractions to visit in Patagonia, probably why El Calafate is so busy! From the town it is really easy to arrange a tour to see the glacier.  We didn’t do this, instead first visiting the glacier on our way to a campsite on Lake Roca, also in the National Park.  We spent a couple of days camping at the lake, before heading back to El Calafate to meet Erik and Nelleke for dinner.  Erik and Richard went to school together and hadn’t seen each other for at least ten years so a good old fashioned catch up was in order. We had a great night out with them! Continue reading →