3/23/10: El Calafate, Argentina
I use a lot of superlatives when I write my blog posts. I think this is mainly because my memory is so short that at the time I’m actually typing out the post, what we did that day really was “the best thing ever” or “the most brilliant idea I’ve ever had.” But I suppose if you pressed me to really think about it, I’d tell you that I might be slightly…exaggerating.
But not today. Granted I haven’t seen that many glaciers before in my life, but when we went to see the Perito Moreno Glacier, my mind was totally and completely blown. BLOWN. It is the coolest thing we’ve seen so far on our trip.
Meet Perito Moreno, glacier extraordinaire.
The picture above was from our very first view of the glacier from the viewing platforms. It’s hard to tell, but the glacier itself is over 150 feet high. We just watched it in awe for about an hour, walking around the platforms to see it from different angles. Every now and then we’d hear a huge crash and look out to see a piece of ice fall (I think the term they use is calve) off the front of the glacier and into the water. I was surprised by how big some of the splashes sounded relative to the size of the chunks of ice that made the splash – but then I remembered that the glacier was over 15 stories high and it all made more sense.
If this had been our only experience with the glacier, I don’t think I would have come away with the same impression (you know, coolest thing I’ve ever seen), but luckily this was just the beginning. Perito and I would eventually be on a first-name basis.
We decided to do the Big Ice trek which, at 650 pesos (~170 USD) was a really big splurge for us. But it was totally worth it.
Getting our crampons on.
Don’t crampons sound like something that belongs in your medicine cabinet and not on your feet? It’s a strange word.
Kevin takes a sip of very clean glacier water.
Blue, blue, blue.
Walking on the glacier was amazing. The sheer size of the thing was completely mind-boggling, and the colors – I have never seen so many shades of blue before. There were creeks and rivers and 50-foot holes and giant chasms filled with the bluest water you could possibly imagine. The pictures really don’t even come close. It was beautiful.
Glacier meets sky.
Pretty good spot for lunch.
Color accent blue. Kevin is looking down at a waterfall in the middle of the glacier.
Tiny lego people. Humongous glacier.
One of the smoother sections.
A jaggedier section.
Kevin – he jumps.
After our trek was over (about three hours on the ice and two hours hiking to the glacier and back), we took the boat back to our bus. I had a shot of (free) whisky, which was the first time I’ve ever had whisky. And probably the last time.
Double fisting the whisky with a thing of raisins.
View from the boat.
The trek was amazing. I know I’ve used the word amazing already, but it really was just…amazing. Coolest thing EVER. Really.
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Ohio Picture: Most perfect Os we’ve had so far on this trip.
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Picture of the Day: The wind was so strong the water in this waterfall went upwards.
The Big Ice Trek looks very cool.
As you can tell, we both highly recommend it if you travel to Argentina sometime.
We’ll let you know soon how the scooter (a la Dumb and Dumber) or car goes on Easter Island – just a week away!
I’m horribly jealous. Glacier trekking AND free whisky? Man, why am I not there….
Side Note: This is Kev’s best jump picture I think.
Side Note #2: Have you gone from discouraging to encouraging his jumping? I wonder how many things along the trip one of you just stopped caring about or alternatively, started doing randomly (i.e., jumping)
Matt, if we ever get to do a glacier trek with you that doesn’t give out free whisky, your first glass is on us. I really should have thought about it and saved you my whisky rather than feed it to a penguin.
And on side note number two, Zhou does put up with all my ridiculous picture requests, although she puts up more of a fight against them now. It’s the OHIO pictures that she’s really resigned to taking now without any argument.
This looks totally incredible! Wow!
A MA ZING!
That looks AWESOME. I hope you plan to decorate your future dwelling with pictures from this trip!
We’re worried that our budget for framing our photos is going to be higher than the actual cost of the trip!
this is soooo cool! glacier trekking is totally on my bucket list now.
haha you got caught up really fast!
[...] Hiking the Perito Moreno in Argentina [...]
Hi
Your photo’s and words have convinced me i need to visit here on my travels in argentina.
Do you know what it’s like in January?
is it easy to reach?
Thank you
Hi Alexa,
Glad we could inspire you to go see the glacier! It remains to this day one of our favorite stops on our trip. Unfortunately we have no idea what the weather is like in January, but as long as the glacier doesn’t melt in the summer, I’m guessing it’s pretty nice!
As far as getting there – we rode buses throughout Patagonia, and for the most part had really good experiences with them. There’s also an airport in El Calafate, the town nearest the glacier. I know LAN flies there. Regardless of how you get there, we highly highly recommend it.
Thanks for reading!
[...] do: Big Ice on Perito Moreno glacier, cruise to [...]