In El Calafate you will find yourself at the gateway to the majestic world of glaciers. This town is near Lake Argentino, a green water surface covering 1600 km2, with a length of 60 km., a width between 12 and 14 km., and depths from 35 m. in Feruglio on the coast and centre, to 300 m. in the Avellaneda Peninsula. El Calafate connects you with the most unknown and magical of our geography. The writer and journalist Germán Sopeña in his book La Patagonia Blanca, Ed. Elefante Blanco, describes this region as follows: "The viewpoint cannot be better. It is almost the prow of a ship from where we see everything around. ...There is an amazing attraction in white surfaces. One can stay for hours watching an apparently still panorama with a movement that we know gives life to it..." Father De Agostini wrote: "I remain astonished at the spectacular show, and enjoy in advance the happiness of revealing the last secrets of this eternal ice... ...There lies, precisely, the great magic of White Patagonia." El Calafate is 316 km. from Río Gallegos, over Lago Argentino, 185 m. above sea level, and receives its name from the small bush calafate, indigenous of Patagonia, its fruit is a delicious berry very good for the elaboration of jam. According to tradition, whoever eats calafate will return for more. But reality indicates that whoever visits Calafate wants to stay there forever. It is an important tourist resort of both national and international importance, since it is the start of all glacier circuits. It is an oasis of poplars, willows and pines at the border of the steppe. El Calafate presents a dry climate, with an average maximum temperature of 19ºC, and an average minimum in winter of -2º. In summer the sun rises at 5.30am and sets at 11pm. In winter the day is shorter, there are only 8 hours of light. El Calafate is the main supplier of the area, a city of around 8,000 inhabitants on a surface of 155,000 hectares, with rivers and creeks draining into the Atlantic Ocean through the Santa Cruz River. Los Glaciares National Park covers a surface of some 600,000 hectares with 47 glaciers, such as the Marconi, the Viedma, the Moyano, the Upsala, the Agassiz, the Bolado, the Onelli, the Peineta, the Spegazzini, the Mayo, the Ameghino, the Moreno and the Frías, all of them draining into the Atlantic. From El Calafate, you can go on excursions by bus or in modern ships. Expert bilingual guides and travel agencies organize tours and outings to the classical viewpoint of the Perito Moreno Glacier or the audacious expeditions to cross the glaciers. The International Airport of El Calafate, inaugurated on 17th November, 2000, receives direct flights from Buenos Aires, Trelew, Bariloche, Puerto Natales, and other cities
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