Santa Cruz, heart of Patagonia

Perito Moreno Glacier - Santa Cruz		Petrified Forests - Santa Cruz
	Most excursions depart from "El Calafate" town, covering the area of Lake Argentino, Viedma and Rio Turbio to the South. Glaciers are gigantic masses of ice in continous movement. The process of formation is extensive, until the weight of the ice itself	Petrified Forests are located to the north of Santa Cruz, 260 km from Puerto Deseado. They belong to the "Monumento Natural Bosques Petrificados" which has the purpose of preserving what has been petrified over 140 million years ago. This reservation
starts to move solid mas-ses and blocks throughout the lakes. From all Gla-ciers, Perito Moreno is spectacular: 60 mts high and 4500 mts long. It mo-ves at a speed of 100 mts every year until blocks the 'canal de los tempanos'. Water flows from 'Brazo ri-co and sur' start exerting such a pressure that the walls of the Glacier finally break down. Enormous blocks of ice fall into the waters producing an incre-dible specticle every 4			was created in 1954. The region has no trees any-more but must have looked deeply green during the Ju-rassic period when "Los Andes" was still inexis-tent, allowing for humidity from the pacific to reach the area.. The birh of the Andes together with volca-nic activity must have pro-duced continous rain of ashes that eventually killed everything alive. A minera-lization process occurred. The death of the trees seems to have been imme-
years approximately. There are many guided tours and trekking journerys into the ice formations. Plus it is pos-sible to stay at local ranches in the region. Tours com-bine El Calafate, El Chalten, Argentine Lake and can last a number of days or weeks, depends on visitors.		diate according to some studies. It has been calculated that some trees could have been 1000 years old at the time of their death. The trees have remained there with their roots since the ashes prevented their decomposi-tion. Later, organic matter was replaced by inorganic ma-tter producing their "petrification".

The Hands cave

	Departing from Perito Moreno town in a 2 hour trip, visitors arrive at an archeological site where there is an amazing collection of drawings done by human groups that inhabited the area 9300 years ago. At close proximity, at Lake Cardiel there is plenty of fishing, Salmons and Percales (creole trouts) among the most abundant. Around 1940 an airplane carrying fishes landed there due to bad weather conditions. The fishes were thrown in the lake to prevent their death and they have proliferated since then. A fishing permit is required. Flycasting, Spinning and Trolling are the most common practices. Contact us to arrange your fishing trip with a local guide !!!

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