From Cordoba I flew south to El Calafate. I had kind of written the Glaciers National Park off as it was proving difficult to fy to it (while not paying an extortionate amount of money and/or flying for 18 hours and changing planes multiple times) and because various online sources stated that it was pointless going there in winter because it would be difficult to get to the glaciers in the snow and because it would be extremely cold and windy. It was by sheer luck that I found a flight that, was both direct and didn’t cost a fortune and figured it was worth a try. I’m glad I went!

Firstly, it was nowhere near ascold and windy as the people on the internet were trying to make me believe! In preparation for sub-zero temperatures I had bought an extra set of thermal leggings in Santiago – and didn’t wear them once! And I didn’t think it was windy at all… The first day I arrived I booked a tour for the next day that would take me up to the Perito Moreno glacier. Said to be the most famous glacier in South America. Why? Due to its easy accessibility, how close you can get to the glacier and because ice chunks carve off the glacier multiple times per hour.

It has been really foggy a morning. Being my first morning in El Calafate I figured it was normal and that the fog would lift once the sun rose. Which, only happens at 09:45 here!! On the way to Perito Moreno we should have made a stop at a view point, but when we got there it was still too cloudy to see anything. So we continued on to the optional boat trip. This would sail right past the glacier allowing for a very close up view of the ice. Or would it? It was still foggy! I decided to skip the boat as I figured even sailing right next to it I still wouldn’t be able to see anything in the fog. So the bus dropped me off at the restaurant and the guide explained that it was about a 2km walk, along a constructed walkway, to get the glacier. It was STILL foggy, but off I went… The walkway was made of a kind of steel mesh. I guess this was to allow any moisture, in the form of ice or snow, to fall through it so that it wouldn’t be slippery. It was still slippery! The whole walk I couldn’t see much on either side of the path. I had no clue where I was, whether I was getting close, whether I was actually standing right next to the glacier and just didn’t know it! So I kept walking… Until I heard a very loud, thunder-like sound. Aha! This must be the glacier, carving a piece of ice! I could hear the noise, but still had no idea where it was coming from. But I followed the walkway further and followed where I thought the noise was coming from. Until I got to a spot where I thought I would get a good view, should the fog finally lift. This is what I saw…

The fog didn’t lift. The sun didn’t come out. I didn’t see the glacier. And it was time to walk back to the bus. Gutted! Back at the restaurant I had a hot chocolate to warm up a bit. It hadn’t felt that cold, but standing around for two hours, watching, waiting for the fog to disappear had been colder than I thought. It was at that point that the sun decided to come out! Within 15 minutes, the sky was blue and the sun was shining. Great.. Just in time for the bus. Turns out once I got back to the bus that other people were just as annoyed about this as me. They hadn’t seen anything either and everyone was itching to get back to the end of the walk way to finally see what the fog had been hiding… And the guide and the bus driver came up with a plan to make that happen. They couldn’t wait because some passengers had flights that evening and needed to get back to town. But there was a bus leaving 2 hours later from the same company that we could get on. There would be no guide and it would only drop off in the center of town and not the hostels but it would allow us to stay another 2 hours and actually allow us the see the thing that we came to see. So off most of us got and rushed back towards the walkway and towards the glacier. It was a half an hour walk from this point to where the glacier was visible. Because the sun had come out, the walkway was drying up and was much less slippery now.

Some people choose to run. I didn’t. But I did walk at a slightly higher pace that I usual would. Not that it mattered, just as I rounded the corner where the glacier was visible, the fog stated to roll back in… I was able to catch a glimpse, of a small corner of the glacier before the fog completely covered it again and that was it for the day!

So then it was a case of standing an waiting for another 2 hours for the next bus. All the while hoping that the sun would break through again and that the fog would once again disappear. It didn’t. I didn’t see any more of the glacier and went back to the hostel with a slightly disappointed feeling…