March 1, 2019 – Learned the history of the name of this glacier today, which I’ll share at a later date because I’m flat out exhausted and have another early morning/all day trip tomorrow… Yikes.
Francisco Moreno was an explorer and scientist in early Argentina who was involved in defining the borders between Argentina and Chile, among other accomplishments. Perito means ‘expert’ or ‘specialist’ in Spanish, so he was honored with that designation. The glacier was named after him, but ironically, he never even laid eyes 👀 on it!
It was a relatively easy day overall. It was only about an hour and a half drive out of town, with about a two hour hike upon arrival to overlook the glacier, and then back on the bus for a couple minutes to reach the navigation port.
From there, we boarded a catamaran to sail to the face of the glacier on the south side.
The blue colors in the glacier are beautiful
The ice between the face of the glacier on the left and the rocky, dead ice area on the right is from the biggest calving episode I saw today. The water temp is only about 2-3•C so the icebergs float around for a long time
Managed to see a few small calving episodes, and one larger one, which is somewhat captured on my other camera. When the ice cracks, preparing to fall forward, it sounds like a stick of dynamite or a clap of thunder going off. From a distance, it’s hard to judge how big the pieces of ice are that fall off the front of the glacier, but when they hit the water, concussion waves last for several minutes, so I’m guessing they’re pretty darn big!
I’m sleeping really well, just not quite long enough to completely catch up. My room is small, but cozy and comfy. I’m on the second floor so can leave the window open for fresh air all night!
Calafate is a sweet, small town with visitors from all over the world. Amazing restaurants and a myriad of hotels, Airbnb’s, hostels and guest houses to choose from. Seems safe overall, but I’m a wary traveler, cause we all know creepers are everywhere!!!
Tomorrow is my last day in Calafate. I’m going to Estancia Cristina, but have yet to read the description of the day… should be exciting
Travels with Nance 