Great, greater, Glaciar Perito Moreno

After the Torres del Paine Nationalpark we travelled again over the border to El Calafate. On the campground in El Calafate we met again a Dutch couple that we met a couple of days ago: Ynska and Bas. So we decided to have dinner together and cooked spaghetti bolognese. Bas was struggling with the big amount of pasta sauce. 

Ynska, Jo and Bas.

Together with our two Dutch friends we visited the next day the Glaciar Perito Moreno. One of the most fascinating glaciers and one of the last expanding glaciers in the world.

And we were lucky again and saw a rainbow over the glacier.

The height above the waterlevel of the Lago Argentina is around 70m and below the waterlevel the thickness of the ice is another 100m. In total the glacier covers an area of 250km².

Only three days ago the "icebridge" colapsed. That happens on average only every 5 years. In wintertime the glacier will expand and possibly built a new "bridge",

We decided to join a hiking tour over the glacier. That was pretty touristy but it was worth to join the crowd!

The 400 year old ice tasted very good!

We can´t find any words for the following pics... So just enjoy it.

The next highlight - Torres del Paine - Part V

On our last day we went on a little bit further to get better views of the Glaciar Grey.

Big, bigger, Glaciar Grey!

It was breathtaking and bizarre!

Even better with a small rainbow.

Without any words!!!

But also the wildflowers were great.

Joemul (that name comes from Huemul) admires the burnt trees. 

And finally after 5 days and 96kms hiking we took the ferry over Lago Pehoe back to the bus:

Our conclusion: Torres del Paine is a "Hiking Circus" but it´s worth to go there! Especially the overwhelming "Glaciar Grey" is worth the effort.

The next highlight - Torres del Paine - Part IV

With best weather we started our fourth day. Our destination was the Glaciar Grey.

Lago Pehue.

Here you can see what happens if someone tries to burn his toilet paper... A big area of the nationalpark is burned down. We were hiking for about 15kms through a burnt landscape.

Anyway, Eva was very, very happy at the beginning of the day. After 23kms she wasn´t smiling anymore.

Sharing our lunch at Lago Pehoe.

Rock art in Chile.

And then... The biggest WOW experience within the last days: The Glaciar Grey! It is a part of the Southern Icefield in Patagonia. Only this glacier has a length of about 50kms. Imagine a glacier from Kronach to Bamberg!

More impressions in the next post.

The next highlight - Torres del Paine - Part III

On our third day we explored the French valley and saw the first glacier: The "Glaciar Ventisquero".

The amazing thing about this glacier system was that parts from the upper glaciers were breaking and falling down followed by a thunderlike noise that you could here kilometers away!

A view from the French Valley towards the Lago Nordenskjol with good weather...

...and one hour later with rainy weather. Thats Patagonia.

The next highlight - Torres del Paine - Part II

We have to mention that Torres del Paine NP is the same for hiking what Ischgl or Saalbach is for skiing: A real hiking circus!!!! Hundreds of other hikers everywhere. Very funny was this group of Asians with umbrella and a guide. Who needs a gide on those hiking highways???

We didn´t spot any Pumas or Huemuls but some other nice animals and flowers. Don´t ask for the name... :-(

On our second day we were hiking from the "Campamento Torres" towards the "Campamento Italiano" in the "French Valley". After a while it started to rain. And we had rain for half of the day.

But also the bad weather offers fascinating views!

And when you are in Patagonia the weather will...

...change always. And for the rest of the second day we had perfect weather.

Lago Nordenskjol - yes we are still in Chile and not in Norway!

After saying 137 times "Hola" to passing hikers we reached "Campamento Italiano" where we stayed two nights. Hiking Circus in Torres del Paine!!!!

The next highlight - Torres del Paine - Part I

After a view days of relexing in the Rio Pipo campground in Ushuaia together with Bärbel and Andi we went to the Torres del Paine Nationalpark in Chile. We decided to hike along the famous "W - trail" for five days. On the first picture you can see the first meters from the bus dropoff towards the Refugio Las Torres 

The rockformations were great. You have to enlarge the picture!!!!

Jo el toro.

At the end of our first day we hiked to this lookout and the view of the "Torres" were amazing! By the way: Torres del Paine means "towers of the blue sky". The sky wasn´t so blue but it was great anyway.

Eva was there, too.

One pic more.