El Calafate is the main town in this part of Patagonia and the only one with a regular passenger flights airport. The town lies in the Patagonia steppe and is about 45 kilometres from the Los Glacieres national park, where the glaciers tumble down from the Patagonia ice field.

The flight from Buenos Aires to El Calafate takes a couple of hours. Flights inside the country leave from Jorge Newbury airport, which is next to the river Platte part of town, just upstream from the port. The airport is very convenient, much more so than the new airport for international flights, which is well outside town.The river Platte is very wide at this point, it seems more like a sea than a river.

One thing you notice flying southward is how much clearer the air is compared to Europe and USA. This is due to the country being mostly rural and also because as you head south into the roaring forties and fifties, the continual westerly air stream coming from the Pacific crossing Peru into Argentina blows away any pollution. We flew down the east coast before turning west and inland for the last leg to El Calafate. The last couple of photos were taken of the Patagonian steppe during the final descent into El Calafate.

El Calafate is on the Patagonian steppe which consists of low hills and broad plains. It is located below 50 degree latitude south (that is a looong way south), hence just under the roaring forties latitude. When I arrived it was fairly sunny and I had luck with 3 days of mostly sunny weather, but the summer day I was leaving it snowed (first photos)!

Its location is in contrast to the mountains to the west coming down from the Patagonian ice field, where the glaciers are located. The town itself is nothing special, but it is well situated, lying just above the somewhat marshy south side of Lago Argentino (several photos) and about 80 kilometers from the Los Glacieres national park - Perito Moreno viewpoints.

The last photos were taken in the Los Glacieres visitor and administration centre in El Calafate, showing some historic recreations of explorers and natives.

I stayed in a hosteria just outside El Calafate on the road to Los Glacieres. One of my surprises was that accommodation was generally more expensive than I expected, as was car rental. While I was glad that I rented a car, it cost me over 100USD per day for the cheapest possible car so be warned! And the car was really basic. The model label was 'so-called' classic - it even had hand cranked windows, which is really classic.

Sunset was nice, but as I did not sleep well, I caught the dawn which was better.

As you head west out of El Calafate, you head towards Los Glacieres national park. In the satellite image  from the national park service you see Peninsular Magallanes, this is the range of hills you see on the next photo on the right. If you turn right before these hills, you head to Puerto Bandera, which is the main port for tours on Lago Argentino to Upsala and Spegazzini glaciers on the Brazo Norte (northern arm).

If you head left, you drive on the northern side of the Brazo Rico arm of Lago Argentino. This part of the lake is closed off by the Perito Moreno glacier. The terminus (end) of the Perito Moreno glacier pushes up against the Peninsular Magallanes, blocking the Brazo Rico arm. Every decade or so as the water level of Brazo Rico rises enough, it causes a spectacular collapse of the glacier, until the water flows out. The glacier's continual movement then closes off the lake arm again and the cycle repeats. Unfortunately this happened a few years earlier so I did not witness the collapse. In the page of photos on Perito Moreno, you can see in some photos how the glacier is pushed against the rocky slopes of Peninsular Magallanes, under the lookout point of Los Terrazzos.

The main road is a good asphalt road, but there is an alternate dirt road that goes to Lago di Roca (see 7th photo under sat image). My hostess suggested I should drive this road to the park, but instead I tried it returning from the national park. It is very dusty, if you drive west in the afternoon you would not see anything into the sun when a car comes the other way. Because you are at such a southerly latitude the angle of the sun is quite different. In addition I shredded a car tyre on this road (more expense) so I really cannot recommend using it.

The last five photos are on the road to Puerto Bandera. The last two photos are of the Southern Caracara birds and were taken on this road.

La Leone is a ranch about halfway between El Calafate and El Chalten. Near the ranch is a petrified forest. I slid around on the wet mud and found at least one petrified tree stump (last photo). As I was on my own and the rain was intense making the ground very slippery, I did not manage to walk further into the petrified forest.

The bridge into the area was an adventure in itself, particularly as everything was slippery from the rain, the car was muddy from the dirt road and the state of maintenance of the bridge was questionable - you can see how the timber runners were broken up.