Having watched many nature documentaries that have shown the magnificence of glaciers, I was still in awe from the first sight of Perito Moreno. It’s not just the height or the mind boggling mile width of this enormous wall of ice. Looking back at the glacier it stretches as far as the eye can see, and is over 1km thick in places. It is hard to fathom its gigantic size.
We had arrived at El Calafate airport around lunchtime and I had planned on checking in to our hotel before finding a bus or other transport to take us for a trip to the glacier, which is around 90km out of town. However our taxi driver was a savvy entrepreneur and offered us a price for an afternoon at the glacier that seemed reasonable, so we agreed to meet him after a quick lunch. We conversed in my limited Spanish, and I tried to keep the conversation flowing to stop him turning up the volume on his Bonnie Tyler CD.
We took the boat ride to the edge of the glacier, and even while there we witnessed several hairy moments of calving – where the ice breaks from the glacier face and crashes into the water. Often it was preceded by a cracking sound, rather like distant thunder, that echoed around the glacial bay. Seconds later we would see chunks of ice (some many metres high and weighing over a tonne) crashing into the sea in a spray of mist. Our boat skipper was clearly familiar with how far away he needed to be, although there have been serious accidents here before.
It was a spectacular sight, and is a must on an Argentinian trip if you haven’t yet witnessed the beauty of a glacier at first hand. But be prepared for many scary moments as the ice cracks before your eyes. And don’t be fooled by any smooth talking taxi driver… check out his music collection before you agree to go!
(Apr 2007)
