We are currently in El Calafate -- the town that is the jumping off point to see the Perito Moreno glacier part of the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares. We arrived in El Calafate at 1:30 am after a very long day that started at 4:30 am with a snowy walk to the bus station in Ushuaia. Despite 21 hours of travel, we were delighted to reach El Calafate for many reasons. One being that at 5 am (when the bus was scheduled to leave), we still didn't have tickets for the three bus rides and a ferry ride over the Strait of Magellan. Oh yeah, it was snowing too. All bus and ferry transport were needed to reach El Calafate approximately 1000 kilometers north of Ushuaia. If we would have gone 1000 kilometers in the other direction, we would have reached the glaciers of Antartica and only needed one mode of ground transport -- a boat. (Ah, live and learn.)
Luckily and even without bus tickets, we were able to ride the bus for three hours before we bought tickets at the first bus change. This bus change was right before our first border crossing of our 21 hours journey- Chile. El Calafate is an Argentinian city but Chile carved out a piece of the territory in 1881 between Ushuaia and El Calafate. Chile's territory gives the country access to the Atlantic Ocean and includes the Strait of Magellan.
Crossing the Strait of Magellan
The Strait was a surprising blue green color with white capped waves. We crossed it on a two-story red ferry that carried three buses and some passenger cars. The ferry rocked back and forth as we made our way across this strait that Magellan crossed in 1520 on his voyage to find a route to the spices of the East.
As Wilson and I perched on the second deck of the ferry, we spotted wildlife in the green-blue turbulence below. I saw a penguin and Wilson saw two penguins. All three appearing so briefly in the waves of the water and the glare of a low sun that neither us were able to share in the other's sighting. The sightings were especially thrilling because most of the penguins have migrated to Brazil for the winter. Otherwise, we would have seen many penguins on our Beagle Channel boat ride the day before. I also saw two dolphins before the ferry reached ground and lowered a ramp onto the cement ramp coming out of the water, on to points North.
Glacier Perito Moreno
Nine or so hours after the penguin and dolphin sightings we were in El Calafate -- 80 kilometers away from Glacier Perito Moreno. The size of glacier Perito Moreno is staggering -- 295 square kilometers. It is one of only three Patagonia glaciers that is growing. In fact, you can hear the gun shot and blast sounds of that growth -- the new ice pushing against the old ice. We also saw the old ice crashing into the Lake of Argentina with twenty five foot splashes of water.
The glacier is one of the most important Patagonia tourist destinations because of its accessibility. It even has disabled access with an elevator to one of the look-out platforms. Despite the glacier's accessibility, tourists can't get too close to the glacier because the old ice can shoot out from the glacier, peligroso. In a twenty year span (from the sixties to the eighties), the glacier's falling ice killed thirty-two people. No deaths today nor too many tourists, so we had an excellent time marveling at such an impressive natural wonder.
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