Perito Moreno Glacier
Trip Start
Nov 01, 2006
1
16
118
Trip End
Aug 29, 2007
El Calafate,
Argentina
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
After our week in the wilderness weīve decided to continue with the camping buzz and stayed at a campsite in the town. The first things we did here were to book our bus ticket back to Punta Arenas, sort out our accommodation, and get the laundry done (in that order). Itīs very cheap to eat out here but even cheaper to cook your own food and weīve taken to cooking for ourselves now and again. Itīs sometimes nicer not to have to take the usual risks on which restaurant to choose, and just eat food you make yourself.
Wednesday morning up early and out on the bus to see the glacier. Itīs about 85km out of town, once again in a National Park. It is amazing. 60m or so in height above the water, and up to 140m below the water, itīs advancing at a rate of 2m per day while simultaneously losing 2m per day due to erosion, evaporation, etc. Point being you can hear the thing moving slowly, hearing the roar of the enormous pressure itīs under and every now and again watch a chunk of it collapse with a roar into the water. Incredible.
Thereīs much more to be done in this area, El Chalten is just up the road for more trekking and more wilderness but once again we donīt have the time. Thomas and Marijke, who we said adios to in Puerto Natales, are spending a year in South America without visiting Brazil! In comparison our two months is but a flying visit, and at each step of the way we see all of the other amazing things to be done here. Admittedly most of it involves trekking, but the scenery is so beautiful you could do it for weeks and not get bored.
The towns themselves are not that interesting for me. Theyīre quite western, but in a poorer way mostly, but culturally not as interesting as say Bolivia or Peru where there are much larger indiginous communities. Having said that my lack of Spanish is a hindrance, and it can be very frustrating. There are cultural oddities here of course, one good example being the mate (pronounced "mattay") ritual which is similar to many peopleīs coffee addictions at home but much more social. A special cup is filled with the green mate leaves, and the thermos comes out repeatedly to refill it (sugar is optional). This concoction is then supped via an ornate silver straw, and passed from person to person in the group. It is a stimulant like coffee, and theyīre all hopelessly addicted to it, but Iīve heard itīs praises sung in many ways, for example itīs full of antioxidants to keep you young, or that itīs full of magnesium. Which is good I suppose.
Anyway, we packed up the tent Thursday morning and back on a bus for Puerto Natales again. Back into Chile, and having all our bags searched for Mad Cow disease or any fresh fruit or vegetables. Yawn, we must have crossed back and forth seven or eight times already, and weīve one more crossing to do. Havenīt they heard of computers in this place (he typed)?
