We spent another warm sunny morning riding along the shore of Lago Argentino watching the flamingos then returned to the hostel to change and walk to the bus station for the 13:00 “Always Glaciers” coach to the glacier, stopping at the National Park entrance to pay our $330ARS per head entrance fee.
Good views of the lake were followed by our first sighting of the glacier. We arrived at 14:30, ate our sandwiches then walked down to view the glacier. There’s an extensive system of metal walkways and stairs, allowing viewing from different heights all along its face. We saw a few calvings of ice.
The 250 sq km (97 sq miles) ice formation is 30 km (19 mi) in length, one of 48 glaciers of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, the world’s third largest reserve of fresh water.
The Perito Moreno Glacier was named after the explorer Francisco Moreno, a pioneer who studied the region in the 19th century and played a major role in defending the territory of Argentina in its dispute with Chile.