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.
_____________________________________________
Ohio Picture: Most perfect Os we’ve had so far on this trip.
_____________________________________________
Picture of the Day: The wind was so strong the water in this waterfall went upwards.
no hurry curry 