From Puerto Chacabuco, a 200-kilometre boat ride through the labyrinthine fjords of Aisen brings you to the dazzling San Rafael glacier, spilling into the broad Laguna San Rafael. The journey -- four to sixteen hours, depending on type of craft -- is a spectacle in itself, as boats edge their way through narrow channels hemmed in by precipitous cliffs dripping with vegetation. You get little sense of entering the Pacific, as the chain of islands that form the Chonos archipelago blends into one seething mass of mottled green, creating a natural barrier between the mainland and the open sea. After sailing down the long, thin Golfo de Elefantes, the boat enters the seemingly unvavigable Rio Tempanos, or "iceberg river, before emerging into the Laguna San Rafael. Floating in the lagoon are dozens of Iceburgs, fashioned by wind and rain into monumental Henry Moore- style sculptures, holes, a nd all, with such a vibrant electic-blue colour that they appear to be lit from within. Their precarious balance is upset by the gentlest of wakes from a passing boat, whereupon, brought suddenly to life, they bob up and down in the water before finding a new equilibrium.
sailing around these icy phantoms, you approach the giant glacier at the far end of the lagoon. Over 4km wide, and rearing out of the water to a height of 70 m, it really is a dizzying sight. While the cruise boat keeps at a safe distance, to avoid being trapped by icebergs, you'll probably be given the chance to get a closer look on board an inflatable motor dinghy --but not too close, as the huge blocks of ice that, with a deafening roar, calve off into the water create dangerous crashing waves. What you can see from the boat is in fact just the tip of the glacier's tongue. which entends some 15km from its source. If you look at the rocks that encircle the lagoon, either side of this tongue, you'll see a series of white markers, painted by scientists since the 1980's to monitor the positiion of the glacier's edge. It is unmistakeably, retreating fast, frequently by as much as 100m a year. early explorers reported that in 1800, the glacier filled three-quarters of the lagoon, and archive photographs from the beginning of the 20th century show it as being far longer than it is today. it is estimated that by the year 2030, the glacier will be gone.
Stretching beyond the shores of the lagoon are the 4.2 million acres of land that make up Parque Nacional Laguna San Rafael, of which the eponymous laguna forms just a tiny fraction. Almost half this vast areas is covered by the immense icefield known as the Campo de Hielo Norte; it feeds eighteen other glaciers on top of this one and contains over 250 lakes and lagoons. The 4058 metre Monte San Valentin , the highest peak in the southern Andes, wowers over the frozen plateau. The Languna San Rafael is the only accessible part of the park, though the thousands of tourists who viist the glacier each summer by boat are exempt from the CH$3000 entrance fee.
