Morraine Glacier

One of the tourist highlights of Argentina (we arrived here from Southern Chile) and very impressive indeed. This is one of the most active glaciers in the world with huge slabs of ice sheering off the glacier every half hour or so, causing mini tidal waves and deafening booms accross the lake.  I tried in vain to capture the falling ice on camera but my trigger finger was just not snappy enough.

Excerpt from Ally's email


We arrived in El Calafate and struggled to find a room to rest our weary heads but eventually found a place
with a “matrimonial” room. It was a bit musty but it was private and had as much hot water as we wanted so
I was thrilled.

Seeing Moreno Glacier is one of the highlights for me. It is one of the most active glaciers in the world and is advancing at a rate of 2m per day. The wall of ice was about 200m in front of us. Within half an hour of getting there we had seen huge pieces if ice sheer off into the lake causing huge waves. The wall of ice about the water was about 50m high but below the water it went as far as 700m. The front wall must be under the most immense pressure and it is no wonder pieces fall off. G´s dearest wish was to capture a piece falling on video but then it all went quiet.

Against all odds we met Pete and Donna (the Oz couple from Pucon) at the glacier. We had a super dinner
with them catching up and they raved about a town close by called El Chalten so we duly bought tickets
and here we are. It has the famous Fitz Roy mountain which is a huge jagged granite towering mountain. I must admit that I was feeling a little hiked out so G has gone up to so some self bonding (and taking that National Geographic winning photo) and I have hang out at the hostel enjoying great coffee and reading.

We leave here tomorrow and head back up to Buenos Aires. I think it will take us about 3 days on the
bus – well we are traveling just about the whole length of Argentina. After a couple of days there and only after we have uploaded all photos so that you can see what I have tried to describe we will be going to Uruguay for some fun on the beach.