One of the main reasons people travel to El Calafate is to have easy access to see the glaciers. The glacier that is most accessible is the Perito Moreno glacier which is only about 1.5 hours out of El Calafate. I signed up for a small guided tour the night before and hoped my cold would be mostly gone in the morning. And it was! All of the hydrating and sleeping and taking it easy (by only climbing mountains instead of harder things) paid off and my stuffiness was mostly gone, just a little tickle in the throat and coughing left, but more than good enough to go trekking to the glacier.
The tour was actually quite good with a driver/guide who stopped at several locations along the way including an estancia (farm) with some friendly animals. This one thought he might get a taste of my hot chocolate, but I was too quick for him.
After a few more interesting stops, we made it to the glacier where we had a few hours to wander around which would be followed by a 1 hour boat ride on the glacial lake to get a view of the glacier from the water. The group of people were mostly from France, but there were a couple from other places. I wandered around with an American and we enjoyed the glacier from just about every angle possible.
And yes, it was super cold there (6 degrees) which is why I am wearing a toque and a hood. I have no idea who the miniature person is in my picture.
I switched out of my hostel from the night before due to the fact they wanted to put me back in the noisy room, so now I am in a very nice hotel by South American standards. It actually has a card access rather than an old fashioned key with a single paddle. And they upgraded me to a superior room because they ran out of crappy rooms, I guess. The wifi isn’t the best, so I had to write this in the lobby, but you can’t get everything, I guess.
The big question of the day was, “Why is glacier ice blue?” Do you know?