El Calafate
- Maximus Nostramabus
- Aug 19, 2019
- 8 min read
Updated: Sep 6
The largest continental ice-shelf - Los Glaciares National Park 145; Filete porteño in Buenos Aires, a traditional painting technique 01069
What and Why
Los Glaciares National Park (Spanish: Parque Nacional Los Glaciares) is a massive national park in Patagonia, Argentina that houses the gigantic ice-caps in continental land. The entire park is around 7,000 km2, which is more than six Hong Kong (Cantonese: 香港, Hoenggong) packed together. These massive ice-caps are the largest outside of Antarctica, Greenland (Greenlandic: Kalaallit Nunaat) and Iceland (Icelandic: Ísland), and the park has 47 of these large glaciers. The park literally represents both nature’s grandeur and its fragility.
Almost all other glaciers of the world are located or start at a height of at least 2,500 m above sea level, but due to the sheer size of the Los Glaciares ice caps, these glaciers begin at only 1,500 m and is one of the lowest-altitudes in the world.
Though famous for its inland glaciers, Los Glaciares is also Argentina's largest national park and home to a rich mosaic of ecosystems: from the Magellanic subpolar forests and Patagonian steppe to rugged high-altitude terrain modelled by glacial forces. The glaciers also exhibits 'superb natural phenomena' as UNESCO puts in its inscription and for showcasing active glaciation, fjord-like lakes, and dramatic landforms sculpted during the Quaternary and Holocene epochs.
Toponymy
Calafate is the Spanish name for the local small berry-bearing bush Berberis buxifolia.
See
Perito Moreno
The most famous of these glaciated ice-caps is the Perito Moreno, which is named after the explorer Francisco Moreno. The massive 250 km² ice formation, 30 km in length and 60 m in average height, is one of 48 glaciers fed from the Andes shared with Chile towards Lago Argentino. Just the front face where most visitors will pay tribute is around 5 km in width. This ice field is the world's third largest reserve of fresh water. The mystifying bluish hue of the glacier reflects the purity of the freshwater, and is a signature of this particular glacier. The entire glacier gives an illusion it looks very flat: far from it, the glacier is actually extremely undulating and rugged, just that the massive ice-spikes all peak at similar height and make them look flat from afar. Most importantly, especially to me, the glacier is one of the major physical indicators of global climate change.
While the whole park landscape looks cold and frozen, the park is actually reasonable warm. Even during winter the average temperature is perhaps 1 ºC and when we were there during summer it was at just single digit in celsius.
The glacier can be seen close up from the series of well-managed boardwalks from the carpark. One of the more peculiar features of this particular glacier is that it is growing, against almost every other glaciers which are retreating. It is also important to note that glaciers grow and retreat with respect to temperature of the season. During the time we were there, it was summer and it is not surprising that one would witness the occasional rupture and collapse of some glacier pieces. The glacier would grow much bigger during winter, and overall this glacier actually grows over time. Hence while one should be concerned about climate change, the cracking sound is not something to be alarmed about, at least not this glacier at the time of writing.
Recent developments have not been so favourable since. The glacier has now entered a new overall negative mass balance territory, which was not the case before. Many scientists warn this retreat may be irreversible, with icefall events are becoming more frequent and massive, raising concerns about the glacier's structural integrity and longevity.
The boardwalks provide large number of great photospots. One can actually do a trekking on Perito Moreno by joining a specialised tour; or one can do a boating trip near to the ice-cap, which is a pricey but popular activity. We could not afford these extravagances during our trip.
Upsala
The glacier is a large valley glacier higher up the Park. The glacier terminus is at Upsala channel of Lago Argentino. The Upsala Glacier is well known for its rapid retreat, which many see as evidence for global warming. As a matter of fact, Upsala has retreated to such degree that it no longer constrains its tributary Bertacchi Glacier and is a very alarming sign to planet Earth.
The glacier is named after the researchers from Uppsala University (Swedish: Uppsala Universitet) of Sweden (Swedish: Sverige), who came to conduct research on this glacier. Access to this part of the glacier is, however, difficult and there is no tourist facilities. A special guided tour has to be organised to explore this area.
El Calafate
El Calafate is the official gateway to Los Glaciares National Park. It is quite small but has a very cozy touristic Swiss town feel in it to be honest. Apparently it also brims with a bit of a cowboy (gaucho) tradition and culture.
When strolling around the streets in the city, one cannot help but notice that a highly decorative art form called filete porteño, or fileteado which is almost everywhere. These artistic works present themselves in street signs, bus and trucks liveries, posters, murals and even tattoos. 'Fileteado' means 'fillet' or 'outline' while 'porteño' means 'port' referring to the fact this art form came from the port of Buenos Aires, as locals in the city call themselves. While fileteado came from Buenos Aires, it has spread to all over Argentina, including El Calafate.
The characteristics of fileteado cannot be mistaken: bright colours, flamboyant styles, highly stylised typographies featuring flowing motifs like scrolls, leaves, flowers or even dragons. These improvised folk drawings, and elaborate hand-painted letterings, often feature popular slogans, or humourous sayings. As a matter of fact it reminded me of similar ubiquitous decorations around lorries and rickshaws in India (Hindu: भारत,Bhārat), although clearly they were unrelated.
There are some common features of fileteado:
hand-painted, bespoke and improvised;
flamboyant styles and bright lively colours;
extensive use of curvy patterns;
extensive use of frames, shading and highlighting to create the illusion of three-dimension;
highly elaborate typographies and calligraphies;
symmetric patterns;
almost no empty space;
symbolic conceptualisation and inferences of the images represented, for example the dragon as a symbol of strength.
The history of fileteado is not that long, as it started during the 1970s CE European immigration waves. The Europeans brought the artistic trend of perhaps Art Nouveau, popular at the time and mixed it with local art. This art form has become so widespread in Argentina that it now represents Argentinians working-class creativity, identity and heritage. Fileteado is now inscribed as an ICH, in spite of its modest art origin.
Buy and Do
One of the main buys of the town is marmalade, especially made from the local berry calafate.
Eat and Drink
Yerba Mate
One cannot claim to have been to South America if one has not tried the iconic beverage yerba mate, pronounced /ˈʝeɾβa ˈmate/. The infusion tea, called mate in Spanish-speaking countries is prepared by filling a small fist-size container with dry leaves and twigs of the mate plant, and filling it up with hot water. The muddy tea is sucked through a spoon-like metal straw called bombilla. The cup is known as the gourd (calabaza) and is so-called because traditionally it was always made from the gourd. Nowadays the cup is made from all sort of materials and there are even instant mate drinks available from the supermarket.
The drink is supposed to be shared amongst friends, refilling and passing to the next person after finishing the few mouthfuls of the beverage and this is a common social practice in South America. Drinking mate is a social act: one person (cebador) prepares and refills the mate and passes it to others in a circle.
Yerba mate is THE drink in South America and one can see loads of people carrying the mate and a thermal flask under their arms. The flavour of brewed tea, in my opinion, resembles bad bitter trash grass or hay and I have to say it is really not 'my cup of tea'. Apparently this drink has a lot of health claims: it is rich in polyphenols, vitamins, and minerals. It is stimulating as it also contains traces of caffeine, theobromine, theophylline. It also aids digestion and is considered a mild diuretic.
Asado
We also had an asado dinner at MAKO Fuegos y Vinos. Asado is literally the barbecue party of Argentina during which you are served with a variety of barbecued meat together with salads and condiments. An asado usually consists of beef, lamb, pork, chicken, chorizo, and morcilla cooked on an open-fire grill, called parrilla. The local roast lamb called cordero al estilo patagónico, is a must-try.
Almost in all Argentinian asado restaurant, the parilla is shown for this purpose.
Stay
We stayed in a timber country-house type hotel named Tremun Kau Yatun Hotel de Campo. Very good country-feel. The only regret we had was that we arrived one day late due to the national airline strike and our stay was cut short.
Travel Suggestions and Logistics
El Calafate is around 20 km away from Los Glaciares National Park, and one can reach there by a taxi. The entrance fee to the park is USD $30 (Argentina uses American dollars USD more than there own currency Argentinian peso ARS as it sufers from hyper-devaluation.) full-day exploration is good, especially if one chooses to trek up the glacier, which usually takes around two to three hours. Leave perhaps an extra day for the city, but other than the main street the city itself is quite bland.
Clearly one pairs this up as a side trip from either Buenos Aires or Antarctica via Ushuaia. Due to the popularity of the national park, the airport does offer good connexions to other parts of Argentina.
UNESCO Inscriptions
The Los Glaciares National Park is an area of exceptional natural beauty, with rugged, towering mountains and numerous glacial lakes, including Lake Argentino, which is 160 km long. At its farthest end, three glaciers meet to dump their effluvia into the milky grey glacial water, launching massive igloo icebergs into the lake with thunderous splashes.
Filete porteño from Buenos Aires is a traditional painting technique used for ornamental design that combines brilliant colours with specific lettering styles. It can be seen as a form of decoration on urban buses and trucks and is also used for store signage and increasingly, home decoration. Images used relate back to the city’s heritage incorporating social and religious elements, acting as a form of collective memory. Popular designs include icons representing saints, admired politicians, music and sports idols. Sayings and proverbs are sometimes also incorporated in the designs. The technique begins with a drawing, which is then transferred to a support. Synthetic paint, coloured varnish and special longhaired brushes are then used to complete the work. Filete craftsmen transmit this technique to anyone who wants to learn it. Formal education is not required to develop the skills needed, which represents an opportunity for some young people in the community who are at risk of social exclusion. In the last few decades, a new generation of craftswomen have participated in Filete workshops and the practice in general, producing a new aesthetic for the artform.
References
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Please share your thoughts and comments about the blog. If you need suggestions to build a travel itinerary, please let me know. More than willing to help. I would also like to build a bespoke-in-depth travel community around UNESCO WHS and ICH.
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