El Calafate is located on the shores of Lago Argentino, in southern Patagonia. It is the starting point for excursions to the main glaciers of the area such as Perito Moreno, Upsala and Onelli. For the more adventurous it provides access to El Chalten for Cerro Torre and Mount FitzRoy, Argentina's premier trekking areas. These small towns of doublepitched roofs and tourist facilities, always offer a friendly welcome to visitors. Some of the hightlights of El Calafate, the Perito Moreno Glacier located 80 kilometres from Calafate on the road to Los Glaciares National Park. The first part of the journey crosses barren Patagonian steppe, but on reaching the national park the vegetation changes abruptly into forest dotted with shrubs and occasionally, the intense red of the notro, the typical flower of the Andean Patagonian. Los Glacieres National Park was created in 1937 to preserve an area of continental icefields and glaciers, it was declared a World Heritage Monument by UNESCO in 1981. The main attraction is the Perito Moreno glacier, slowly eroding a valley between two hills on the side of a long narrow lake, so that the opposite bank is an ideal position to stand on land and view the glacier close to the massive front, measuring some five kilometres in width and 60 metres in height. At times the glacier reaches the opposite bank of the lake and blocks the flow of water. The sight of huge pieces of ice breaking off with a roar, then floating away as icebergs is truly unforgettable.