Perito Moreno Glaciar

It was a cloudy morning when we set out on the 'Alternative' tour of Perito Moreno Glacier near El Calafate. The tour was organised by Patagonian Backpackers, a tour company attached to Hostal Del Glaciars which we were staying in. It is alternative because instead of taking the most direct paved road into the national park it takes a gravel road  giving the opportunity to see much more wildlife along the way. We weren't disappointed as we very soon came across a collection of black breasted buzzard eagles, caracaras and condors feasting on dead hares in the middle of the road.
 

The weather was wet by the time we got to the national park and so we were unable to do the one hour hike on the lake shore we should have done because it was too slippery. Instead we had a good 3 hours on the metal walkways to admire various views of the glacier. Perito Moreno is the 5th largest glacier in Argentina and is also one of fastest moving and most accessible. It is famous for large chunks of ice falling off the front of the glaciar into the lake. We saw several small pieces fall off as we walked along the walkways. Typically, the loudest crashes were heard at points when the path had taken into the trees and thus obscured our view of the glaciar itself!

The highlight of the day was an afternoon boat ride up to the glaciar on the lake. This gives a closer view than the walkways and a real sense of the huge scale of the glaciar. The weather had dried up and the sun was poking through  so we thought the warmer temperatures may mean we would see larger pieces break off. We weren't disappointed. About halfway through the boat trip small pieces started to break off and we heard the rumble and then much larger pieces followed. Amazing! See the pictures for the sense of scale and the size of the pieces hitting the lake.