Patagonia - El Calafate Glaciers

Tuesday 24th January 2012

El Calafate sits in desert steppe country, about a  60k drive from the mountain areas that form this part of the Andes. It’s a prettier town than Ushuaia, set on the shores of the enormous, turquoise Lake Argentine, so there’s plenty of irrigation for the grassy lawns and tree-lined streets. We arrived on a pleasant but cloudy evening and soon realized there was no time to lose to fit in all we wanted to do, and set off to the bird park in the wetlands on the edge of the lake. It’s a lovely place and we enjoyed it so much that we went back again two days later on a clear but ridiculously windy day, so the photos below are a mix of both walks.

Wild flamingos

…look

awesome when they fly!

Long-tailed meadow lark

A spectacled tyrant!

Cauquen goose

 

Kestrels galore – nice birds….

Not so nice as he swoops over the baby ducks to pick out supper tho Still a few left though (actually hundreds!) – these at the back are Ruddy ducks, or as my Dad used to say – “not another ruddy duck!”  There’s a word no one uses any more.

Next morning we were up at crack of dawn for the first of our three expeditions. For many reasons, we chose to start with a boat trip to the Uppsala and Spagazzi glaciers, rather than the more celebrated Perito Morena glacier planned for the following day. We had also decided to blow the kid’s inheritance on a smaller ship with only 10 in the group (and including a gourmet lunch, not the main attraction, but it proved to be exquisite!). As we passed several charabangs-full queuing to get on the main boats, we knew we had made the right call!

 

Our first big ‘berg.

Uppsala glacier iceberg field – glacier behind

Spagazzi glacier wall - the ‘dirty’ glacier is the top layer that is exposed to the grit blown down off the bare tundra; the blue bits are forced  up from under water by the constant churning as the ice moves ever forward.

On the way back from the glaciers, we called into a lovely little bay that had been a gaucho outpost of an old ranch, before the National Park took over all the land. The last gaucho raised his family there and stayed on until his wife died. He left aged 78, and still lives in Calafate; the guide sometimes brings him back “home” for a mate (pronounced ma-tay) tea (the local herbal tea drunk everywhere by everyone – see pix below).

The lady is holding the mate cup – a communal silver straw/gourd bowl We took a short walk around the area, and saw wild ponies and cows  which pose quite a threat to the Park, as in winter there is nothing to eat but the top of the young saplings poking out of the snow. We were also lucky to see two mature red-headed woodpeckers up close and personal, and they really do go “Uh-uh-uh-UH-uh, it’s the woody woodpecker song…”! Then back to the boat reluctantly for the cruise home, but this was enhanced by copious amounts of champagne and a couple of not-so-wee drams for Mick with genuine glacier ice fished out of the bay….                         Cheers!