Argentina Trip Report, Day 9: Perito Moreno Glacier; Day 10: Laguna Nimez, Flight to Bariloche

DAY 9, Dec 6, 2013:

PERITO MORENO GLACIER:

We wanted to do the boardwalk and boat ride at the Perito Moreno. This would be a closer encounter than the All Glacier cruise we had taken before our trip to El Chalten. The Perito Moreno Glacier is located 78 km (48 mi) from El Calafate. We needed transport to reach Perito Moreno.

We had meant to take the Caltur public bus from terminal in centro to the Glacier Park and walk the boardwalk at our leisure and come back when we were through. This would have costed us 200 peso pp by Caltur and we just had to go to centro by taxi as we had done for our El Chalten bus.

RANCH:

Our hotel suggested a ranch cum Perito Moreno visit at 290 peso pp.

Our hotel guy presented this ranch plus glacier as a better option, which included hotel pickup/drop. He said we'll have 3 hours at the glacier plus 1 hour boat ride.

So though we were not keen on a ranch visit, we took this tour. 

The tour took a long route showing us ranches, condors, flamingos etc.

Earlier the ranches had a flourishing business rearing these sheep—but now with the advent of synthetic fleece, they have resorted to tourism.

Stuffed animals inside...

A fox cub is hiding under the shelf. It has been rescued by the ranch people.

Managed the catch the fox cub and the kitten... the kitten was the one seeking and getting attention from all!

Stuffed condor. Condors are 3 feet tall and have a wing span of 6 feet.

Sheep grazing on the scenic farm...

wool was displayed as showpiece. We saw a family of 5 condors sitting in the distance.

GLACIER PARK:

After a short ranch visit, the tour guide drove us to the glacier park and stopped much ahead of the boating pier. 

We were taken on a 45 minute exclusive trek into the basin of the lago and could see the Perito moreno glacier at close quarters. TERRIFIC!!

Only this company has the exclusive rights for this trek.

Sat and enjoyed the view. With no crowd this was an awesome experience.

The trek back was over sheer rocky cliff in some parts and then over a steep hill.

Pretty tough..it may be a better ides to go back the way we came instead of attempting to climb the cliffs.

Then we were dropped near the boardwalk.

BOARDWALK:

We were given 2 hours to come back to the meeting point by 2.10 after finishing the walkways if we wanted a boat ride; 3.10 if we just wanted to go back.

We started on the yellow trail—1 1/2 km long.

The yellow trail is the longest—it covers the right side.

The red trail leads to the left.

The green trail is through the Bosque—forest.

Great map of the trails and the time/difficulty level...

Usted esta aqui—-you are here..

Seracs—blocks of ice in the glacier. They look like giant statues...

We enjoyed each nook as it brought new views.

The red flowers are chilean firebush—they abound between the winding walkways.

 There are alternate routes—so these signposts are only general guidelines.

 It rains almost daily here—we were lucky to have perfect weather and visibility.

Had our packed lunch... bet the Perito Moreno never witnessed tomato rice before...Ha Ha..

We saw small pieces break away and float but heard big thunderous noises of the other side wall coming down.

Got thoroughly sunburned... the atmosphere is so clean that UV rays penetrate fast.The elevation also plays a part.

Sendero de la costa is the blue trail of the coast. We did that as well.

Our guide has asked us to come to the starting point by 2 if we wanted to go for the boat ride. 

We had started on the walkway by 11.30 but could not see ourselves retracing by 2. We decided to do justice to the whole walkway and return by 3 to take the van home.

We managed to complete only yellow and blue trails by 3 and told our guide we wanted to be on our own. We had tried to book a ride back with the buses in the parking space but they were all booked. Our guide spoke to Caltur guys and we could join their 7pm bus back to Calafate if we paid 100peso pp when we returned. We said yes gladly.

We were at the boating pier at 3 but unfortunately their last boat ride was from 2—3. So we missed the boating on the south side of Perito Moreno—we had earlier covered the north side in our day long boating cruise—todo glaciares.

We turned back and started on the red trail.

People had all gone back by 3 and we had the whole walkways to ourselves... it was an awesome experience.

This is the green trail—del bosque—through the forests.

Saw a pudu—smallest deer in the world— scurry away and a megallanic woodpecker.

They've closed off the walkway as the glacier is advancing—pretty soon, it may fall on the walkway.

Had some snacks at this scenic location.

We left the place reluctantly by 6.30, went to the parking lot, got into the bus by Caltur and reached centro... paid 100peso pp at Caltur counter and were off to our hotel in a taxi—45pesos.

Could not help thinking the driver may have pocketed the money in other places...

We could have easily taken the Caltur bus in the morning and arrived early by 9 instead of taking the tour to the ranch first... were misled by hotel staff. took their word because in Ushuaia the info we had about a bus to Tierra del fuego was no longer relevant.

Anyway, the day had been awesome, so no big regrets!

DAY 10, Dec 7, 2013: 9am —Laguna  Nimez:

Our flight to Bariloche was only at 4.30 pm. We had factored in more time in El Calafate because of the reports of bad weather/rain making it difficult to do the cruise/walkways for Periot Moreno and the other glaciers on Lago Argentino. The good weather had made things go smooth and we were left with extra time.

Thought of taking the bus to Perito Moreno again and doing the boat cruise we had missed and then return back. But we were scared the bus back may be late and we may not be able to catch the flight.

Decided to while away the morning at Laguna Nimez again—- we had our tickets bought earlier and entered... there were so many birds and we had an awesome experience... time just flew by and it turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip.

This is a mocking bird in the tree...gave an awesome concert for 20 minutes... will fly away when we pick up the camera but will come back and resume its singing. Felt as though it was aware of our attention and revelled in it!! in fact when the bird flew away once we walked to a nearby niche to sit down... the bird returned to the original spot, looked around, flew near our new spot, sat on a branch and resumed its song!! AWESOME EXPERIENCE!

Managed to catch a small piece of its song in a video.

A group of ibis kept circling us and making loud noises.

We thought they recognised us and were saying hello as we had seen them the previous time as well.

There were lovely flamingos in the small island. Altogether a lovely time.

We took a taxi back to our hotel, had our lunch in their gardens surrounded by roses and then went to the airport in a taxi for our flight at 4.30.

San Carlos de Bariloche:

Landed in San Carlos de Bariloche at 6.20pm, bargained with a cab driver to take us to our hotel Peninsula Petit for 250 pesos (the return to the airport 4 days later cost only 190—so the driver did overcharge). 

On the way we stopped at Supermercado La Anonima and got provisions so that we can start our stay comfortably.

Our hotel Peninsula Petit is on the tip of a beautiful peninsula on the banks of the lake Nahuel Huapi and is 17km from the city center... it was a great decision to stay here rather than in the crowded centro.

 

Our room had an awesome view of the lake and the snow topped mountains and it had an access to the private beach.

Garden access to private beach...

 There was lovely local art...

Ibis at our window...usually 2 came together...on the last day, there were 4 ibis...quite pretty..it's a big bird and colorful too.

Though there was plenty of sunlight we settled in and decided to do our sightseeing the next day.

Guess all the strenuous treks were catching up...

the beautiful view from our room window made up for not going out.

Watched a lovely sunset over the lake and the mountains.

The sheer number of stars in the sky was awesome—-tried to catch the stars on a video but could not...

We had had a lovely time at Ushuaia and El calafate and El Chalten ... Bariloche was our last stop on this trip... and we were richly rewarded here as well. Details in the next post:
http://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2017/06/argentina-trip-report-day-11-cerro.html