With absolutely beautiful scenery and great weather, this was by far the best day of the tour. We visited Los Glaciares National Park and the Perito Moreno Glacier. The park has multiple wooden/metal catwalks that are fairly easy to navigate, and visitors can get different views/perspectives of this spectacular glacier. Wildlife sightings were virtually nonexistent, although we could hear birds nearby.

We were fortunate enough to witness a large glacier calving (the breaking of an ice chunk from the edge of a glacier). I couldn’t get a good picture of it, but one of my fellow travelers shared this video taken with his phone:

After having lunch in the park, we returned to the hotel, where I rested before dinner. We ate at the Casimoro Bigua Resto in downtown El Calafate, where we were entertained by musicians, singers and dancers.

We noticed a lot of dogs roam the streets of El Calafate (but they don’t look like strays); they appear to be looking for handouts as they stick their heads hopefully in doorways.

“Got any leftover pizza?”

See more photos:

• El Calafate
• Los Glaciares National Park
• Perito Moreno Glacier

We had a catamaran cruise through the Upsala arm of Lago Argentino and saw many icebergs and glaciers.

After arriving at Estancia Cristina, we took 4x4s and drove to the Lago Guillermo viewpoint of the Upsala Glacier. It was about a 20-minute walk on uneven terrain, some of it rather challenging, but the destination was entirely worth it. The beautiful blue lake was framed by the mountains and the glacier.

We returned to the Estancia Cristina for lunch followed by a demonstration of making mate tea and a historical presentation of the estancia. We sailed back to Puerto Bandera and drove back to our hotel for dinner.

See more photos:

• Lago Argentino Cruise
• Upsala Glacier

We had an early start as we were leaving Chile and traveling to Argentina. The terrain gradually changed to what is called “Patagonian desert” (dry with scrub grass/bushes). We spotted condors, rheas and guanacos. We had one photo stop at Mirador Julio Heredia El “Monito” lookout point.

At the Chile-Argentina border

Entering the resort city of El Calafate

After a late lunch, we checked into our hotel in El Calafate, then headed out to the Glaciarium, a museum dedicated to the history of glaciers.

The Glaciarium

The very “high tech” weather forecasting stone, a popular photo backdrop

Lago Argentino

My hotel room has a great view of Lago Argentino. Before dinner, I took a short walk to a lakeside park to get a closer look at the flamingos, geese and ducks. I retired early to rest up as tomorrow would be another full day.

See more photos:

• El Calafate

We had a choice of sightseeing options today. I chose the city tour, but as it did not depart until the late afternoon, I spend the bulk of my day recovering from yesterday’s blustery adventures and touring the cold storage plant museum inside the hotel.

A local guide drove us through the “company town” of Puerto Bories (where our hotel is located) to the city of Puerto Natales. The plant’s executives lived in Puerto Bories, while the workers lived in Puerto Natales.

Driving through Puerto Bories

In Puerto Natales, we stopped at the waterfront, the city square, and a small crafts mall.

See more photos:

• The Singular Patagonia

This was a very busy – and very windy – sightseeing day – but fortunately there was no rain. We toured the Torres del Paine National Park (Torres del Paine = “blue towers”). The scenery is spectacular. I took lots of photos on the bus as well as at our stops at Sarmiento Lake, Laguna Amarga, Cascada Paine and Grey Lake (this last stop provided a unique opportunity to see a transitional blue iceberg). I felt I was outside in a Category 1 hurricane at Grey Lake; it was very difficult to keep my footing. Estancias (large ranches) border the park, although the lakes and rivers are public. We saw guanacos, flamingos, geese, ducks and condors (although I could not get a good picture of them as they were in flight).

Condors in flight

An estancia bordering the park

Guanacos

Torres del Paine

Sarmiento Lake

Laguna Amarga

Torres del Paine – my closest view

Cascada Paine

Upland and Ashy-Headed Geese

Grey Lake

See more photos:

• Torres del Paine National Park – Part 1
• Torres del Paine National Park – Part 2
• Torres del Paine National Park – Part 3
• Torres del Paine National Park – Part 4

We headed out early for a catamaran cruise through the Ultima Esperanza Fjord. The weather started blustery and a little rainy but improved somewhat throughout the day. We visited the beautiful Serrano Glacier for about an hour. It was amazing how the weather turned warmer and less windy at the observation point.

————————————————————————————————————————————- Ultima Esperanza Fjord Cruise

————————————————————————————————————————————- Serrano Glacier

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After our visit, we went to the Estancia Perales for lunch before resuming our cruise and returning to our hotel.

We attended a lecture on the history of Patagonia. Isolated by Argentina, the Patagonia region was initially inhabited by multiple nomadic indigenous peoples. It was visited by the explorers Magellan and Ladrilleros in the 1500’s and by Charles Darwin in 1831-36. Puerto Arenas became a free port in 1889, with a large immigration wave from 1890 to 1973 and subsequently followed by tourism.

Our day ended with a wine-pairing dinner featuring traditional Chilean wines and dishes.

See more photos:

• Serrano Glacier
• Ultima Esperanza Fjord

We had a smooth transition out of Santiago to Puerto Arenas. After leaving the airport, our bus drove past the Straits of Magellan. We saw cattle, horses, sheep, rheas, guanacos and flamingos on our way to our hotel.

The Singular Patagonia is a unique luxury hotel – a former cold storage plant that does double-duty as a museum. I had a wonderful dinner of lamb chops and a strawberry creme brulee dessert, then retired early as tomorrow would be a long sightseeing day.

See more photos:

• On the Road to Puerto Bories
• The Singular Patagonia