Los Glaciers National Park, Santa Cruz, Argentina: Possibly my favorite excursion in El Calafate was kayaking near the Upsala Glacier. This glacier is slightly to the north of Perito Moreno.

We got on a catamaran and went north across Lago Argentino to a fjord. As the glacier came into view we suited up in really heavy wetsuits. Ironically it was the hottest day I spent in El Calafate and bright and sunny by Patagonian standards. While the water was freezing and I was glad to have the wetsuit on the off hand chance the kayak capsized after a few hours of paddling it was quite toasty inside.

Oddly enough the excursion was run by Catalans from Andorra. Apparently there is a shortage of kayaking guides in Argentina and they were sent over in partnership with an Argentine company. Why a native North American tradition is popular in the Pyrenees is beyond me, but it was fun to hear Catalan Spanish accents again after six years.

Most of the two-person kayaks were anchored by men, so naturally I was put in the only boat with two women. I went with an Argentine from Puerto Madryn who had never done it before. Nora had a grand time taking pictures of the icebergs while her gondolier ferried her around. At first I was annoyed until I realized every time she “helped” we went headlong into a rock or, better yet, a massive piece of ice.

Upsala is receding, meaning that, unlike Perito Moreno, every time a piece of ice falls off the front of the glacier not enough is being generated at the top of the mountain to replenish it. We paddled around an area about two miles south of the glacier that 40 years early had been covered in ice. It wasn’t possible to get closer because the falling ice creates huge waves when it hits the lake.

Paddling among the ice floes was very beautiful and remarkably peaceful.