Glacial Speed.THE JUMPING-OFF POINT Noun 1. jumping-off point - a beginning from which an enterprise is launched; "he uses other people's ideas as a springboard for his own"; "reality provides the jumping-off point for his illusions"; "the point of departure of international comparison cannot be an FOR TOURISM IN southern Argentina just got some extra bounce. In November, the 6,000-resident town of El Calafate El Calafate is a little village in Patagonia, Argentina. It is situated in the southern border of Lake Argentino, in the southwest part of the Santa Cruz Province, about 320 km Northwest from Río Gallegos. unveiled a US$25 million airport that adds an important link in the tourist corridor connecting Patagonids attractions. The journey from Buenos Aires Buenos Aires (bwā`nəs ī`rēz, âr`ēz, Span. bwā`nōs ī`rās), city and federal district (1991 pop. to El Calafate is now about four hours. It used to be a daylong ordeal, including a flight to the dreary industrial city of Rio Gallegos and a 200-mile bus ride. The inconvenience didn't stop the tourists. More than 60,000 of them passed through El Calafate in 1999 for a chance to walk up to Perito Moreno Glacier The Perito Moreno Glacier () is a glacier located in the Los Glaciares National Park in the south west of Santa Cruz province, Argentina. It is one of the most important tourist attractions in the Argentine Patagonia. , one of the few advancing ice fields left in the world, or take photos of Mount Fitzroy in the distance. But tourism officials hope the new air link bypassing Rio Gallegos will spur a three-fold jump in visitors by 2005. "Instead of sitting on their wallets on a torturous bus ride, tourists will stay longer and spend more money at local businesses," predicts Alexis Simunovic, tourism director for El Calafate. An air fare sale is also bound to boost the appeal. Daily round-trip service between Buenos Aires and El Calafate aboard several carriers, including Aerolineas Argentinas, Lapa, Southern Winds and Lade, begins at $352 (tax included), with free stopovers in Trelew, the Welsh-settled community near where right whales right whale, name for whales of the family Balaenidae. They were so named by whalers, who for centuries considered them "the right whales" to hunt, because they float when killed and because they yield enormous quantities of oil and of baleen. annually migrate. From El Calafate, there are also easy air connections to Ushuaia, the end-of-the-world port perched on the Beagle Canal. Still, the new airport built by Argentine firm London Supply hasn't erased all of Patagonia's logistical headaches. There are still no direct flights from Patagonia to the ski slopes of Bariloche. And travelers wishing to see the sights in southern Chile Southern Chile is one of the five natural regions of Chile defined by the CONAMA. Southern Chile stretches from below the Río Bío-Bío at about 38° south latitude to below Isla de Chiloé at about 43.4° south latitude. , have just one option: the bus. |
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