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Getting to the Perito Moreno Glacier
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Guided day excursions to the glacier are offered by virtually all agencies in El Calafate, allowing for between two and three hours at the ice face, though many find this is too little to appreciate fully the spectacle. The one with the
Albergue del Glaciar
and the more expensive tour with Chalten Travel ($40) are recommended. Several bus companies offer their own tours (book at the terminal), leaving every day, year round: Quebek and Interlagos (both $30) allow approximately four hours at the face, which is more than the average; El Pinguino ($25) is cheaper but has no guide and allows less time. Rather than have a fixed point of departure, all companies tend to drive round town collecting passengers from hotels. This can mean you have to get up much earlier than you need to, so try to arrange that you're the last pick-up or that you go to the office just before the bus leaves.
If you don't want to be restricted to a tour, you have four main options. Several private minibus operators run reasonably flexible transport-only services, where you phone up to arrange times and they collect you. Things work out best if you can form a group of four or so first. Try Santa Cruz (tel 02902/491602; $24 return) or enquire at the tourist office. Alternatively you could rent a car, or hire a remise taxi ($80 for two passengers; $100 for four), but agree on a waiting time before setting out, since drivers normally calculate on a two-hour stay. Alternatively, you could hitch. Remember that the glacier lies a long way from the park entrance itself (over 30km), in the event that your potential lift is only going that far.
Driving, you have two choices: either take the RP15 towards Lago Roca; or continue straight down Libertador along the RP11. The first route has the advantage of passing historical Estancia Anita and the tourist estancia of
Alta Vista
, with the shark-fin of Cerro Moreno (1640m) ahead of you in the background. In 1921, Estancia Anita saw one of Patagonia's most grisly episodes, when 121 men were executed here by an army batallion that had been sent to crush a rural strike and the related social unrest (for more information see Oswaldo Bayer's book
Los Vengadores de la Patagonia Tragica
or Chatwin's
In Patagonia
). A concrete monument by the roadside commemorates the victims. Turn right at the 30km mark, just after
Alta Vista
, and then left after another 12km to the park's main entrance. The second route is along a better-maintained road along the lakeshore; head along here for the tourist estancia
Alice
, the park's main gate, and Puerta Bandera, for boat trips to Upsala and other of the park's glaciers. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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Argentina,
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