Tuesday, January 9, 2024
Today, we visited Parque Nacional Los Glaciares (Glaciers National Park). After a buffet-style breakfast in the Xelena Hotel restaurant, we boarded another bus and, as we traveled through scenic Patagonia, our local guide, Sylvia, discussed the geology and culture of the surrounding area. She employed her portable “PowerPoint” presentation method of tying a string across the front of the bus aisle and hanging maps from it for us to better understand the geography. Along the way, our driver stopped the bus for us to observe a flock of rheas, large flightless birds native to the area and distantly related to African ostriches and Australian emus.
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| Patagonian Landscape |
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| Sylvia’s Bus Presentation |
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| Family of Rheas |
The bus pulled over at the park entrance to get our entry approved and we disembarked to take a short walk and get our first view of the park’s most accessible and popular glacier, Perito Moreno. From there, we proceeded through the park and then disembarked near some docks on the shore of Lago Agentino where we boarded a tour boat, Victoria Argentina, for a ride right up to one front of the Perito Moreno Glacier. Most passengers stayed in the warm boat interior during the short trip to the glacier front. But nearer the glacier, the outside decks were packed as a chilly eye-watering wind blew and intermittent rain, then snow precipitated. Fortunately, we had brought our warm Antartica attire. The boat navigated back and forth along the glacier while the crowd took lots and lots of pictures of the stunning views. I saw small chunks of the glacier calve off while watching and we observed some hikers walking on one section of the glacier. This close encounter with a glacier was exhilarating despite having just seen tons of ice in Antarctica. The boat eventually headed back to the dock as the passengers filed downstairs into the interior for warmth. After disembarking, the Viking group loaded back onto our bus and we continued through the park.
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| Parque Nacional Los Glaciares Office – “Stop. Entry Fee Collection.” |
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| Jane with Perito Moreno Glacier in the Distance |
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| Our Tour Boat, Victoria Argentina |
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| Warm & Cozy Inside |
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| Cold & Windy Outside |
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| Panoramic View of Perito Moreno Glacier |
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| Happy Glacierists |
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| Glacial Janie |
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| Warming Up |
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| Disembarking Victoria Argentina after an Exhilarating Voyage |
Next, we disembarked at the national park’s restaurant and gift shop for a bathroom break before our hike to view the glacier. Behind the buildings, a path led down to the lake where a picturesque iceberg was floating. After our break, Sylvia led us along a substantial metal boardwalk to a major overlook of the Perito Moreno Glacier. After a briefing, we were on our own to hike along numerous trails for the next 2.5 hours when we would then meet back at the restaurant. Jane and I took advantage of the situation and covered all the trails that were open viewing all three faces of the glacial peninsula. And, the views were fantastic! Being up close to the glacier (without noise from a ship engine) allowed us to hear the glacier’s moans and groans. Occasionally we would hear booming splashes reporting that chunks of ice had calved off the glacier. We also witnessed some falling ice pieces that from our perspective appeared small, but later, Sylvia suggested that these might have been the size of a car or bus. In addition to fabulous views of the glacier, the well-engineered boardwalks allowed us to view local nature; we saw soaring Andean condors, various bird species, two of the three native Patagonia Nothofagus tree species, false mistletoe, as well as varied attractive mosses and lichen. In the end, we hurried back along the trails and arrived at the restaurant exactly at our designated lunchtime.
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| Glaciers National Park Gift Store and Restaurant |
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| Liquid Soap made with Calafate Extract |
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| Small Iceberg behind the Park Store and Restaurant |
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| Walkway to view Perito Moreno Glacier |
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| One of three Fronts of the Glacier |
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| An Area of Active Calving |
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| Glacier Selfie |
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| False Mistletoe (Misodendrum punctulatum) growing on a Nothofagus Tree |
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| Soaring Andean Condor |
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| Along the Glacier Trail |
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| Another Ice Pic with Jane |
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| Along the Return Route to the Restaurant |
The entire Viking group dined together at Resto del Glaciar. We were served a delicious vegetarian meal, pumpkin soup, veggies and pasta, cake, and wine. Coincidently, we sat with another vegetarian couple. I had worked up an appetite glacier-hiking and devoured my lunch but Jane didn’t have much of an appetite. After eating, we loaded back onto the bus and drowsily watched the interesting Patagonian landscape pass by on the return trip.
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| Sign for our Lunch Restaurant |
After the return trip from the national park, our bus dropped some of us off in downtown El Calafate. We could return to the Xelena on a shuttle that departed hourly. We walked up and down the main street of this cute and tourist-oriented town. In a prominent bookstore, we sought to purchase a plastic guide sheet to identify the area’s flora and fauna that Sylvia had recommended. We couldn’t find it but bumped into Sol who said that she had purchased it in a past visit from a store across that street where we found and purchased it. After investigating several shoppes and purchasing a small jar of Dulce de Calafate, we couldn’t resist ducking into the Patagonia Brewing Company where we found several kindred-minded Viking comrades. We quickly drank our beer with free popcorn so that we could catch the next shuttle back to the hotel.
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| Downtown El Calfate |
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| We Couldn’t Resist stopping Here |
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| A Happy Customer, Good Beer with Free Popcorn |
After returning to the hotel and freshening up in the room, we left for a walk along the shore of Lago Argentino so that we could get a close-up view of some of the flamingos and swans that we had been eyeing from our room window. We climbed down stairs behind the hotel to a lakeside walkway and decided to get a closer look at a large grouping of flamingos and swans near the El Calafate welcome sign as our destination. During the walk, we saw lots of bird species including pink Andean flamingos as well as some horses (some staked, some free) feeding on the shore vegetation. The windy 2+ mile walk was invigorating but we welcomed the warmth and calmness upon our return to the hotel.
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| Lagos Argentino Water Birds |
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| Our Walk’s Destination |
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| Andean Flamingos and a Black-necked Swan in Lago Argentino |
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| Flamingos with White Swans |
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| More Flamingos and Swans |
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| Austral Negrito Flycatcher |
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| Southern Lapwing |
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| Horse frolicking along the Lake |
Upon retuning from our lakeside walk, I ate dinner at 8 pm with my Viking colleagues in the hotel restaurant but Jane decided to stay in the room and chill out. After dinner, the same couple as last night returned in new apparel, and again tangoed, moving among the tables throughout the restaurant. Afterwards, I wearily returned to our room. But before heading to bed to rest up for tomorrow’s traveling, we completed our declaration forms for Chile Aduanas (Customs).
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| More Tangoing after Dinner |
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