Argentina,Travel,Calafate,Hist travel,insurance Argentina Travel: El Calafate History and Attractions
Like any American, traveling occasionally is just what I love doing and I bet you share the same stuff with me. But traveling does not mean that you would be safe. Escaping from our job and other stressful activities is just something that w Torres del Paine is among the biggest of Chiles national parks, occupying almost 600,000 acres (242,000 ha) of land in the south on the border with Argentina. It is also among the most important, receiving a significant proportion of domes
El Calafate is a small Patagonia town in the Santa Cruz Province on the southern shore of Lake Argentino. The towns name derives from the calafate, an evergreen shrub that has yellow flowers and dark blue berries and that grows all over Patagonia. The regions first inhabitants were the Tehuelche people, a nomadic, hunter-gatherer culture that migrated through these parts of Patagonia for several thousand years before the arrival of European explorers. 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Perito Moreno, travelers can visit the Cueva de las Manos, a series of caves with 9,000 year old hand paintings. First contact with the Spaniards occurred in the 16thcentury, but it would be more than 300 years before Argentines established a presence in the region. Today, there are fewer than 4,000 Tehuelches.For many years, the town that would become El Calafate was a small trading post transited by wool traders who traveled between the estancias (ranches) by cart. One of the first buildings of note was a general store operated by the Pantin family. They also established an inn that became an overnight stopping point for travelers passing through the region.The town of El Calafate was formally established in 1927, but it did not see any significant development until a decade or so later. Perito Moreno National Park was created in 1937 and Los Glaciares National Park in 1943. The towns infrastructure grew as a result of the need to provide services and facilities for trekkers and climbers interested in visiting the nearby glaciers and mountains. However, the number of tourists remained fairly low until the 1970s, when the Perito Moreno Glacier began to become a major tourist attraction.Today, El Calafate remains the principal base for trekking to Mount Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre and for other sightseeing tours in the area. Attractions in town include the El Calafate Historical Interpretation Center which displays skeletons of dinosaurs and mega-fauna. The museum visually narrates the geologic and human history of Patagonia. There is also the Glaciarium, or the Ice and Glaciers Interpretation Center, dedicated to the regions main attractions.The town center has a concentrated selection of restaurants and other establishments serving Patagonian and international cuisine. Accommodation options are numerous in the center of town, but travelers can also stay in estancia-like lodging further from the town center.The town of El Chaltén is 220 kilometers distant, on the other side of Lake Argentino, and can be easily accessed by road. El Calafate also has an international airport 20 kilometers east of the village. Bus travel is another popular, albeit slow, method of travel around Patagonia.
Argentina,Travel,Calafate,Hist