Having been to Antarctica and seen LOTS of glaciers, I wasn't too sure about seeing more so soon. Was I all glaciered-out? Well I went anyway and was very glad I did.

The Perito Moreno glacier is in Argentina, almost 80km from El Calafate, in Patagonia. It is the 'star attraction' of the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares and as such sees almost a continual stream of tourist buses. I guess thats the downside, the sheer volume of people being bussed in to see this mammoth ice field. But, they wouldn't all be here if it wasn't worth the trouble.

So its hugely popular, its hugely spectacular and quite simply... its HUGE! I did see enormous glaciers in Antarctica, but because they were set in totally white surroundings (i.e. Mountains covered in ice) it was very difficult to pickout the glacier from the general mass of 'white'. At Perito Moreno the glacier runs through a green valley and the contrast is startling.

In its own right, it is a big glacier covering 250km2 and running for 30km. At its terminus its 5km wide and 170m high (although 110m are below the waterline). Hopefully the people in the foreground of the picture on the right will give a idea of scale.

Its one of only 3 glaciers in Chile which are not in retreat! Although it is technically advancing at around 2m per day, the amount of ice breaking away from the front of the glacier is about the same and so its isn't actually gaining ground (it hasn't made any forward progess for about 90 years!).

Its the rate at which ice carves from the glaciers leading wall that brings so many people. There is a continual cracking and creaking from this very active glacier. Occasionally a very loud bang can be heard and large chunks of ice will break from the glacier. Its not always possible to spot the falling ice, but what people are hoping for is a large ice carving from the front of the glacier into the water. It happens every now and again and sometimes in quite spectacular fashion. Imagine a 60m column of ice collapsing, its a bit like a towerblock being demolished!

I'd have to say that as glaciers go, this one's pretty special and I do think that the rainbow is a nice touch :-)