El Calafate to El Chalten. Monday 6th November 2006.

Lake Argentina has some of the bluest water I have ever seen. It is the largest lake in the country and the third largest lake in South America.

The landscape here in Patagonia is how I expect New Zealand to be. As we drive I am reminded so much of the geographical similarities with northern Scotland.

It was as recent as 1972 that marked the first official tourist season here in Los Glaciares National Park.

On our drive out to the park we catch our first glimpse of a young condor in flight. We are to see many more condors today in Patagonia, the third largest ice mass in the world.

Catching my first sight of Moreno Glacier is simply stunning as I see the lake disappear as it meets with a wall of solid ice.

On my hike in the national park today I will eat my first Chaura (as usual I am the first willing victim to try anything new and these tiny apples are no different).

The southern Patagonian ice field where I stand today covers an area of some 13,000 sq kilometres feeding several large glaciers that drain into Lago Argentino and on towards the Atlantic ocean.

Moreno, the worlds last advancing glacier, advances almost 2 metres per day at its centre and covers an area of some 257 sq kilometres. The ice mass moves over a rock bed which rises to the surface at the edge of the lake, and the glaciers arrow shaped head means it is actually 5 km wide at its front.

Whilst viewing the glacier from the boardwalk I encounter a sign which reads...

When ice falls, pieces are thrown violently dozens of metres away. This action produced the death of 32 people between 1968 and 1988.

The melting ice of Moreno creates creeks that feed lakes and rivers, that produce energy, irrigate cultivated valleys and bring drinkable water to several homes.

All over the world, glaciers maintain the level of water allowing human development near coasts. If glaciers disappear (as global warming threatens) settlements will do the same.

Today is great fun. We hike, we sail right up to the face of the glacier and I even enjoy a true tourist treat. It is only here at Moreno (so they claim) that you can drink a scotch where the ice is older than the water of life you are consuming.

Back in El Calafate there is time for a coffee and snack at Casimiro Bigua before we embark on a four hour drive on made, and unmade, roads to El Chalten.

Dinner tonight is at the rather pricey Mi Viejo before we head back to the hostel and a night of sleep disturbed by the really strong winds that howl around the buildings...and, of course, Dick's alarm...he forgot he had set it for European time and so it welcomed our Tuesday at 3.30am.