Ruta 40, El Calafate and Glaciar Perito Moreno

View from campsite, Lago Roca, mountains, ice and snow.

Ruta (or Route) 40 is kind of like the Carretera Austral of Argentina, the road which runs south along the mountains which separate Argentina from Chile. And this is the main road for tourist travel in Patagonia in Argentina, connecting very popular tourist destinations such as Bariloche (properly San Carlos de Bariloche) in the north (more in Argentinian lake district than in Patagonia), to Rio Turbio, across the border from Puerto Natales, Chile, in the south. Puerto Natales is the gateway to Parque Nacional Torres del Paine, Chile's most visited park about 80 km north of town. Ruta 40 actually continues onto Rio Gallegos along the coast, where it ends at the Atlantic Ocean. The landscape along Ruta 40 in Argentina is very different from what you see along the Carretera Austral, and, most importantly, most of Ruta 40 is paved! The landscape along Ruta 40 between El Chalten, and El Calafate, my next destination, is mostly pampa, dry grassland, with a few hills, and lots of guanacos, including many dead ones hanging from the fences which seem to line both sides of the road, from Perito Moreno where we picked it up in the north (I had hitchhikers as usual), all the way south, at least until I got off and headed west to Cerro Castillo, Chile and P.N. Torres del Paine. While guanacos can run, up to 35 mph, they are apparently not agile jumpers, and it is clear that many try and jump the fences which are everywhere, and while line the road, and some do not make it. What a horrible way to die. They must jump, get caught, and eventually die of thirst and hunger, horrible. There must have been something about the more northern stretches of Ruta 40 I drove, where we saw many dead guanacos hanging from the fences, but I saw very few further south on Ruta 40, or on Terra del Fuego. Sad.

I picked up a young married couple, Argentinians, heading for El Calafate, and soon we were back on Ruta 40 heading south. It was actually a quick ride, and while windy, always windy, especially in Argentinian Patagonia, the road was paved the entire way, quite a change from life on the Carretera Austral in Chile. I dropped the couple off at their hostal, wandered around a bit, and ended up at Camping "El Niriguao", which turned out to be very nice. There were neat parking places/campsites, lined with small trees, electricity at every site, nice (and very clean) bathrooms, with hot water showers, and a common room with better than average WiFi, all for only $130 Argentinian pesos, not bad. I stayed two nights, gave me time to do some business in town, hit the supermercado, and work on the blog. El Calafate was a nice town, plenty of shops, and outfitters, now a town for tourists. I do not mind this, seeing lots of hikers and trekkers wandering around town, people from around the world, is pretty cool in my book, outdoor tourist a just a different breed from tourist you find wandering around museums or historic sites. Many actually trek south and across the border into P.N. Torres del Paine in Chile, while I think others trek north, across the glaciers, and eventually up to El Chalten. I did not explore town much, though did wander a bit, tried to update my vehicle liability insurance in Argentina.  Then after a couple of night, off for a place called Lago Roca, west of El Calafate and on the way to Parque Nacional Los Glaciares (again, already visited this huge park when hiking to Fitz Roy), and the Glaciar Perito Moreno. There is a campground at Lago Roca, and, camping libre, free, and when I got there, it was very quiet. I found a spot with a great view of the lake, and mountains and glaciers off in the distance, hiked a bit to explore, got on my bike for a ride, really enjoyed being back camping, and not in a town. I did get some neighbors, but included a wonderful family pictured in an earlier post, husband Swedish, wife from the US, and with two great kids. It was fun to meet them, chat a bit, and enjoy an evening glass of wine (or two) together. He is a big fisherman, and I was tempted, but I did not have an Argentinian fishing license like he did, so I did not join him down at the lake. I guess he and his son caught a couple of nice rainbow trout their first night in camp, but not much after that. It was a great place to spend a couple of nights before heading to the glacier.

Parque Nacional Los Glaciares and Reserve cover an area of almost 600,000 ha along the border between Argentina and Chile in southern Patagonia, and is now a World Heritage Site. The park contains 47 large glaciers, including Glaciar Perito Moreno, the most famous of those in the park. Glaciar Perito Moreno is big, 250 square km, and 30 km long. The terminus is also 5 km wide, with an average height of 74 m where it spills into Lago Argentino. This glacier is unusual, as it is advancing (or at least is stable) and not retreating like most glaciers around the world. This glacier is also a major tourist attraction, as it is big, and very accessible. There is an extensive system of walkways which allow you to view the glacier from many angles, and very close, plus, trekking on the glacier is possible, though expensive (something like $250US for 1/2 day trek on the ice). And, it costs you $330 Argentinian pesos just to enter the park for a day, so I could not afford a boat ride or a trek. Even though $330 pesos seemed like a lot to enter a park just for the day, it was worth it, though weather was totally crappy for me, as within 30 minutes of my arrival on the walkways to view the glacier, it started to rain, hard at times, so had to put my camera away. I still walked around a bit, waited like so many to witness a huge chunk of ice calving off the main glacier and crashing into the lake. Did not happen, though still pretty cool to be so close to such a huge chunk of ice, definitely worth the $330 pesos. But it was raining, so I did not last long, back to El Calafate, camp one more night before heading south, as always. And my next destination, another special place, as I was headed south, and back into Chile, I was heading to Torres del Paine, a crown jewel of Chilean Patagonia. I was heading back to the mountains. 

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