El Calafate, Patagonia, Argentina

After spending great few days in Buenos Aires it was time to fly south. 3 h later we landed in El Calafate, Patagonia. 

Already far before landing in El Calafate you see the vast desert and huge grassland. We were here to explore in two weeks as much as possible of the mountain range - The Andes.  It stretches along the border between Chile and Argentina for around 7500km all the way from Kap Horn to the Caribbean Sea of Colombia and Ecuador.
In El Calafate a rent car was waiting for us. Nothing else was booked, but as it was in the end of the season it ended up perfect. We could go where every we wanted and stay as long as needed without the stress of needing to move on or the worst - hotel/beds are awful but still you 'have' to stay..

Since we landed late afternoon, we had only time to explored bit of the town itself by window-shopping and looking for somewhere to relax. 

While driving along beaches of Lago Argentino it was hard not to be amazed by the variety of birds I have only seen on TV. The area is also famous for its Chilean flamingo, although due to the floods they were somewhere else. Anyhow, I got to see the black-necked swan :)

The following morning, we drove west into Los Glacier National Park early to check out the Perito Moreno Glacier which is one of Argentina's biggest attractions.

I have seen and walked on glaciers before, but this was really cool with its frequent calving (big chunks of ice falling straight into the water) and The sound! It's like gunfire.

One amazing fact - Perito Moreno hold the world's third largest reserve of fresh water. 

We walked around there for couple of hours in drizzling rain. Well signed paths of various lengths, think we walked for 10ish km. You could also take a boat ride to get really close to that 70m high wall, but we are saving that for another time :)

Caracara

Black-necked swan