Perito Moreno

Our bus set off this morning for Los Glaciares National Park — the second most frequently visited site in the Argentine National Park system (the most visited is at Iguazu Falls). The park is located west of Calafate town on a nice, new paved highway.

Along the way we happened upon a couple of “National Geographic Moments” where wildlife appeared close to the road. Along the shore of Lago Argentino, the huge glacier-fed lake that dominates this area, we encountered several Bandurria Australs (also known as Black-faced Ibis), a large flock of Chilean Famingos, Coscoroba Swans, and Black-necked Swans. (At least the bird guide passed out to us by the tour leader told us that’s what we were seeing.) We had only snapped a few photos — not everyone was even off the bus yet — when a couple of stray dogs ran into the water and frightened many of the birds away.

Just a few miles farther down the road we saw a huge Andean Condor eating a rabbit right next to the road. Our local guide told us that this was highly unusual, as Condors are so huge (wing spans can be up to 10 feet) that they usually seek larger prey. What made this scene doubly (or triply) interesting was that a Buzzard Eagle and a Caracara Hawk were both standing by waiting for the larger bird to finish so that they could have a taste of whatever was left. We also got to see several other Condors at a distance and on the wing in the sky above us.

Another stop along the way was at a makeshift “shrine” by the side of the road, next to a large calafate bush. We’ve encountered several of these, but this time our local guide provided the background story. These red shrines are dedicated to “Gauchito Gil,”sort of a Robin Hood character in Argentine history. He was a gaucho (cowboy) in the northern pampas — far, far from here — who is said to have been executed on false charges because he was romantically involved with a woman whom the local sheriff was also courting.

Argentines consider Gauchito Gil to be a saint, and attribute various healing miracles to him, although he has never been officially beatified by the Catholic Church. Among other things, he is considered the patron of Argentine truck drivers, which explains so many roadside shrines. Our tour leader brought along a can of beer — beer and cigarettes are typical offerings made to entice the Gauchito to grant one’s wishes. She offered us the opportunity to make a request of the Gauchito and to pour out a bit of beer in front of the shrine. A few did, but the local guide did not appreciate my suggestion that we drink the beer instead of pouring out.

After about 90 minutes we reached the entrance to Los Glaciares Park. And just a short drive into the park we rounded a curve and had our first view of Perito Moreno Glacier. Perito is an honorific title for someone who is an expert or authority, and Moreno is the name of a scientist and explorer who is considered to be the founder or inspiration for the Argentine national park system.

Perito Moreno never visited here and never saw the glacier that bears his name. I’m sure he would have loved it, because it’s spectacular. While it is only one of 48 major glaciers, and more than 100 minor glaciers in this enormous, 5000 square mile ice field (part of which is in this park, and part in an adjacent national park in Chile, which we will visit later), it is one of the easiest to get to. It is also one of only a very few glaciers in the world that is not currently receding due to global warming. No one understands why this particular glacier is remaining at equilibrium while others around it are shrinking.

This glacier is very active. It moves about 2 meters a day and “calves” frequently. During our time there we heard at least 3 or 4 loud “thunderclaps” that result when a large chunk of ice breaks off and falls into the lake. Unfortunately, by the time one hears the sound, the event is already over. But the towering, 220 foot high wall of blue ice is spectacular to see in any case. No photo quite does justice to it [and since I cannot upload photos to Blogger from my iPad, even those will have to wait until we return home].

The glacier affects its own environment, so it is almost always bone-chillingly cold when visiting, even though it is viewed from the Peninsula de Magellanes, almost a kilometer away. In typical Patagonian fashion, it was also raining and very windy. As much as we appreciated the view, we were glad to get back inside to warm up and dry off after 80 minutes or so out on the metal catwalks.

The bus dropped us at the hotel a bit before 4 p.m. and we began the process of getting things dried out. We will be in similar cold conditions for the next five days, so we have to keep our layers dry, and remind ourselves that it is still a good deal warmer here than it has been in Minnesota this week! Then we grabbed a sandwich and a beer at the local brew pub to use up the last of our Argentine Pesos. A walk through the aisles of a local supermarket is always very interesting in foreign countries, so we spent some time doing that on the way back.