El Calafate Stopover | Intrepid DAY 1: EL CALAFATE – ARRIVAL Welcome to El Calafate, the gateway to the land of glaciers! Upon your arrival in El Calafate Airport your English-Speaking Guide will be waiting for you with a sign with your name on it to transfer you to your hotel. Arrival in your hotel, check in. Rest of the day at your leisure. Overnight in El Calafate, Sierra Nevada or similar, Standard Room DAY 2: EL CALAFATE – PERITO MORENO GLACIER Today you will enjoy a Full Day (7 hours) regular shared tour to the Perito Moreno Glacier with a bilingual English/Spanish Speaking Guide. (Premium tour, buses up to 18 passengers) Box Lunch is provided. This park has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The famous Perito Moreno Glacier is located in the extreme southwest of Lago Argentino 80 kilometres from El Calafate. It has become one of the greater natural spectacles of South America. From time to time walls of ice fall from the 60 meter tall face into the waters of Brazo Rico or to the Canal de los Témpanos, navigating the channel to the principal body of the lake. This cycle will take 4 to 6 years ending with the lake divided in two. The Brazo Rico remains retained and elevates approximately 35 meters above its current level. The water slowly makes a tunnel in the glacier until the pressure makes it collapse. This spectacle is indescribable. The waters precipitate in gigantic waves only to start the process all over again. Bring or purchase a box lunch or drink. Navigation and trekking tours are available year round to purchase on site. State of paths: completely gravel. We leave through route number 11, bordering Lake Argentino. From El Calafate to the Moreno Glacier there is a distance of 80km, through tarmac road. From the beginning, the journey offers very pleasant surprises. Leaving El Calafate, we can see at the right the Lake Argentino with its Redonda Bay. In it we can appreciate an important variety of bird fauna, from which the black neck swan, the flamingo, the vapor duck, the coot and the cauquen stand out. The eye-catching yellow colour of the countryside is due to its “coiron” pasture, and among them the white and short “coiron” stands out. During the first 40km we travel through the Patagonian Steppe , then enter the National Park to observe the tree area vegetation that is mostly made of the “notofagus” family (ñires, guindos and lengas), seldom cinnamon trees, and flowers of different colors, among which the “notro” stands out because of its intense red colour that corresponds to the Patagonian Andean Forest. We arrive at the “curva de los suspiros” (sigh curve), named this way because it is the first panoramic viewpoint of the Perito Moreno Glacier. There is a short stop to take pictures and we move forward to Bajo las Sombras Port. Upon returning to the Port, we’ll visit the footbridges where we have a service area for visitors and a system of balconies and footbridges that allow you to enjoy walks along different paths and to have really amazing views of the Glacier. After some free time for walking and lunch (which is optional), we begin our way back to El Calafate. Recommendations: wear comfortable shoes and warm clothes (windbreaker, jacket and windbreaker and / or raincoat). Sunglasses, sunscreen and gloves. Also sun hat or coat in case it gets very cold. Note: The Premium tour only operates on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Also included: Ticket for 1 hour Regular Navigation: Safari Nautico The Perito Moreno Glacier is known for quitting smoking in the nautical safari. This navigation in front of the giant is a feast of the senses. An optical effect gives its unique colour to the density of ice: a blue that is not easy to find elsewhere. The sound of its walls giving way to the action of the sun is a gift that the nautical safari offers. The navigation begins with the Rico arm and reaches the southern end of the icebergs channel. For one hour passengers get a different perspective of the glacier and impossible to achieve from the runways. How can one not feel insignificant when approaching the walls of up to sixty meters of the glacier? The captain knows how to understand visitors: the ship will stop for photographs but also to leave technology aside and be one with the magnitude of nature. That will be the indelible memory that they take. The walls of the Glacier The icebergs on Lake Argentino are secondary protagonists of the nautical safari. But not because of their smaller size they stop charming those who see it. Your task seems to be to walk the beauty of this thousand-year-old formation decorating the waters of the lake. The Nautical Safari has daily departures from the Puerto Bajo Las Sombras, and when booking the excursion remember to ask for include the transfers to and from the hotel to Puerto Bajo Las Sombras. It is possible to coordinate this excursion with a mini trek or hike on the glacier for almost two hours. To opt for this last, it is recommended to wear comfortable clothes and shoes. Overnight in El Calafate, Sierra Nevada or similar, Standard Room (B, BL) DAY 3: EL CALAFATE – ESTANCIAS PATAGÓNICAS Regular shared Full Day (9 hours) tour to Nibepo Aike Ranch with Bilingual guide English/Spanish. Far from mass tourism and near El Calafate is the Estancia Nibepo Aike. A place that keeps the essence of old Patagonian ranches. Initially called La Jerónima, Nibepo Aike covers an area of more than 12,000 ha, delimited by the South Arm of the Argentine Lake and the border with Chile, framed by the Andes Mountains. Dedicated to bovine production as main livestock activity and sheep as secondary, it is an ideal place to enjoy an immersion in the life of an authentic Patagonian stay. Departure from El Calafate to take the gravel road Nº15, also known as “Camino de las Estancias”. During the It is common to cross condors, foxes and hares, with Cerro Frías as the protagonist. After crossing the river Rico, the steppe landscape changes abruptly, becoming a mountain range landscape. Arrival at the ranch after touring the shore of Lake Roca and having entered the Los Glaciares National Park. The guide Host will welcome you to the Estancia and will accompany you to the Quincho, where you will be invited with a hot drink (tea, coffee or mate) accompanied by homemade pastry. Then a walk is undertaken to tour the facilities of a typical Patagonian ranch that was dedicated formerly for sheep production and which today has been transformed into the most prestigious Hereford herd of these latitudes and also maintains a flock of sheep. Through this walk you will have excellent views of the South Arm of the Argentinian Lake discovering various outcrops rocky rocks eroded by glacial action and changes in lake levels; there you can clearly see the folds of the earth’s crust differentiated from each other by the variety of sediments that gave rise to it. These formations are they happen until reaching a point where the rocks form a natural amphitheatre giving rise to very quiet beaches of Curious shapes. Through trails we will discover a forest of lengas and ñires, where caranchos, cachañas, hares live, woodpeckers, eagles and an abundant variety of native flora and fauna. The tour may vary according to the weather conditions. After the chosen activity, the group is at the door of the shearing shed and the current historical museum of the ranch. An opportunity to get to know a shed with all its components and understand the work of the shearing troupes. The process will be explained from the shearing of the animal to the assembly of the wool bale, the way in which the wool is stowed and transported. Next, a “test of reins‟ for riders will be carried out or, depending on the rural activities of the day, making in the corrals near the helmet. Among the daily activities visitors can also participate in the morning milking and sheep herding, thus concluding with a typical working day at the Estancia. Some of these Activities may be subject to modification due to weather conditions. Returning to the Quincho where a lamb is being roasted on the stick, emphasis will be placed on the history of the place and recall anecdotes and stories from the first settlers. Crossing the orchard where most of the vegetables consumed in the ranch, we will arrive at the Quincho where the Asador will already have the roast ready for diners delight in a delicious Patagonian lamb while enjoying the impressive view of the Cordillera. Meanwhile, the Life in the ranch continues and it is frequent to see the gauchos passing horses herding cattle and / or sheep and getting lost in the horizon. Returning to El Calafate, having experienced the life of a typical Patagonian ranch will give us a new perspective, finding more sense to the immense Patagonian landscapes characterized by the infinite and the remote. After lunch or before dinner and rural activities, you will undertake with the guide Baqueano a cavalcade that will travel for approximately three hours the different trails that will allow to know more in depth the corners of Nibepo Aike. Horseback riding: 3 hours. Overnight in El Calafate, Sierra Nevada or similar, Standard Room (B, L or D) DAY 4: EL CALAFATE – DEPARTURE Today, at the schedule time, your English-Speaking Guide will pick you up at your hotel to transfer you to El Calafate Airport to take your departure flight.