A no-excuses visit to Argentina is the Los Glaciares National Park, where we find the famous glacier Perito Moreno, one of the 47 that move down the mountains toward this Park. This glacier, 4 kilometers wide and 60 meters tall over the level of Lake Argentino, is one of the few in the world that still advances and that each 4 or 5 years falls in, forming an overwhelming spectacle. In any epoch of the year, one is astonished by the constant crumbling of 60 meter tall ice towers which break off into multiple ice floes. You get here from El Calefate. Navigating through Lake Argentino among the blue and white ice floes, you can reach the Upsala glacier, 50 kilometers long, and Onelli.

THE PERITO MORENO NATIONAL PARK. This park is of great paleontological, archaeological, and biological value; it is the home of several mirror-like lakes, and several herds of guanacoes, which served as the main food source of the ancient inhabitants of Patagonia.

A NATURAL MONUMENT: THE PETRIFIED FOREST. 150 million years ago, this region was characterized by dense forests of giant trees. Volcanic phenomena provoked the fossilization of these trees. Today, it is a landscape dotted with petrified trunks of up to 35 meters in length and 3 meters in diameter, and which continues to be called a forest due to a phenomenon virtually inexistent in any other part of the planet: they are petrified in the same place where they grew.

THE CAVE OF THE PAINTED HANDS AND THE PINTURAS RIVER. In this imposing canyon with rupestrian paintings, the Cueva de las Manos exhibits hundreds of hands painted in positive and negative relief, as well as hunting scenes of guanacoes and nandues.

EL CHALTEN: Located 220 kilometers from El Calafate, and then travelling through dirt roads until arriving to this Tourist Village, which represents one of the country's most important scaling centers, is also ideal for treking and mountain climbing.

LAGO DEL DESIERTO: Several treking possibilities with new panoramas around Chalten, located 35 kilometers from the village with the same name, this lake, whose origins is a glacier, lies over a closed-in valley surrounded abruptly by a Patagonian mountain forest.

THE ESTUARY OF PUERTO DESEADO: Located in the center of the province, it offers us the possibility to navigate in maritime waters through the bed which previously belonged to the river, and where we can see close-up marine and wild fauna.

Also, in the same area, we can visit the reserves of Cabo Blanco and Bahía Laura, which house a wide variety of marine birds including Magellanic pinguins, cormorants, antartic pigeons, ...

Also, in the town of Puerto Deseado, we have two important annual events: shark fishing, and the Pilgrimage to the Gruta de Lourdes, a very deep cavern formed by the passing of water cutting through solid rock.

LOS ANTIGUOS and PERITO MORENO: Border populations located to the northwest of the province: Los Antiguos has a special microclimate which allows it to cultivate fine fruits and vegetables; there, during the month of January, they celebrate the National Cherry Festival.

Both of the populations are located on the banks of Lake Buenos Aires, and just 5 kilometers from the border town of Chile Chico, belonging to the neighboring country.

Other interesting places are: Río Gallegos, the administrative and commercial center; the Laguna Azul, located in the inside of the crater of an inactive volcano; and Cabo Vírgenes and Isla Deseada, where several Magellanic penguins live together in a xerophilous vegetation.

WHAT TO DO. ADVENTURE TOURISM: treking, mountain climbing, rock climbing, different forms of fishing, among other activities.

Email: patagonia@aonikenk.com.ar
Telephone/Fax: Country Code 54 Area Code 297 Numbers 446-6768 or 446-1363
Rawson 1190 - Comodoro Rivadavia (9000) - Chubut - Argentina
www.aonikenk.com.ar