Santa Monica Aparts El Calafate

... bus terminal, caught a 2-hour ride into the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares to see the mighty Glaciar Perito Moreno.

In the last entry, I said something about Glaciar Grey dwarfing the other glaciers weŽd seen at that point. ****. Perito Moreno could eat Grey. This is a BIG piece of ice. Particularly, the snout of the glacier puts everything else weŽd seen (including Grey, which has a smaller ratio of terminus area to overall size ...

... a huge slab fell from the glacier wall and the effect was immense - big wave, loud noise - you could literally feel the bass - like at a gig or something.

Anyway, after the viewing platforms we were taken by boat to the other side of the lake from where we could gain access to trek on the glacier. We were kitted up with 'cramp-ons' - spikes for your shoes - and were led onto the ice. We were taught this rather smooth and sophisticated walking technique which made us look ...

... pelo lago nos leva perto do Glaciar Perito Moreno, 300m. Muito vento e frio mas valeu a pena porque o glaciar eh impressionante. Sao 40 a 60m de parede de gelo dentro de um vale de 4Km de largura. O gelo estah apoiado no fundo do lago com profundidades de 80 a 110m. De vez em quando ouvimos estrondos que sao pedacos do gelo se desprendendo e caindo no lago.

Gostei bastante mas o dia estava meio feio e cinzento. Voltamos ao onibus e andamos mais um pouco em direcao as passarelas ...

... passport control we drove to the Argentina immigration building and did the same there before finally getting on our way. The views were just incredible, everything covered in snow making it look so magical and beautiful. We were so pleased to be in Argentina, driving through remote areas with nothing but white covering everything in sight, then we stopped again. This time we had broken down, the bus would not start. We should have taken this all as some sign that maybe ...

... not realizing that was what we saw the first day we arrived at the park). She was not too pleased at that one. We had a great scramble descent to get back down the valley and to Campamento Italiano. In an overcrowded shelter from the rain (and with everything on our bodies near frozen), we quickly ate lunch and made our way back in much-worse mud than before. Just as we cleared the traverse along Paine Grande, the sun and ...

... around a corner and caught our first sight of the glaciar.... mind boggling to say the least.... Stephen had a smile bigger than the Joker.... this glaciar is nuts... ok ready for some ...

... water komend. Prachtig zeg. Na de boottocht langs de zuidkant van de gletsjer, bracht de busschauffeur ons naar het uitkijkpunt op de grotere noordelijke kant, waar we bijna een uur lang met arendsogen van links naar rechts over de gletsjer gingen om te kijken waar het volgende stuk ijs zou afbreken. Maar ook het aanzicht van boven al, al die pieken en het gekraak dat uit het ijs om de zo veel tijd naar boven kwam, was geweldig om mee te maken. Wat een mazzelpikken zijn wij.

... is very similar yet incredibly different... if new zealand fills you with a soothing peacefullness as you drive through the country, patagonia stares at you with peaceful awe... everything is SO big and so wide and SO long!... there is SO MUCH LAND here in argentina that its incredible... and a lot of times, its a lot of nothing... but a lot of incredibly beautiful nothing... we arrived in el calafate late afternoon to a wonderful little town at the edge of lake ...

... opted for a covered boat ride to see this blue beast up-close. The sheer size and blue shimmer of the Moreno Glaciar leaves you speechless. After our "wow" moment when first spotting the Glaciar Grey in Torres Del Paine, Moreno was a "wow" moment times FIVE! After the Catamaran we jumped back on the bus to walk the platforms along the north side of the Glaciar. The viewing area was swamped with other visitors ...

... s great. We have booked on to a Perito Moreno glacier trip first thing tomorrow, Phill has just had his first steak in Argentina (which although good is apparently about level with the steak RvR senior served last year!) and we are about to retire to our room with another amazing view - might even see a few stars and see if weŽve remembered anything from our San Pedro astronomical lesson....