After an uneventful border crossing, we arrived to El Calafate, Argentina! The only real reason to visit El Calafate is to see the beautiful and ginormous Perito Moreno glacier. It was born to be a tourist attraction with its huge glacial peaks, beautiful blue and white colors and potential for huge ice chunks to fall at whim, crashing in to the ocean water below. The peninsula extends very close to the glacier end and so we spent many hours walking around the walk paths and enjoying the glacier from all angles. Unlike many glaciers around the world, this one is considered stable and sometimes even grows right up to the peninsula. It was quite a sight to see!
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| There were many km's of these raised walkpaths to see the glacier (and also protect the vegetation). |
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| The English translations are always funny. Though I'm glad that they warn us to avoid the violently thrown ice pieces! |
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| We watched these two woodpeckers for a long time. The female clucked the whole time that they male pecked. |
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| That is a small boat in comparison to that huge glacier! |
That evening we enjoyed a local dinner of lorco stew and steak. The food was so-so but the waiter was nice enough to wish me a 'Happy Women's Day' and even gave me a free dessert to celebrate. However, even with the 'blue rate' money exchange rate that is 35% more than what we would get at an ATM, prices here are more than Chile so we will be cooking in more often now! If interested in the financial problems of Argentina (and why it's acceptable to exchange money at a higher rate than the banks), google some info on it.
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