Ice, ice baby
Trip Start
Dec 22, 2007
1
13
48
Trip End
May 01, 2008
El Calafate,
Argentina
Friday, January 11, 2008
11 Jan
We had our first border crossing today! It wasn´t too bad - Chile side they just stamped our passports (took a while as the whole bus did this) and then 2 mins later we got off at the Argentinian side and they just stamped our passports - no documentation like Chile. They did make a comment after they saw my passport and were looking at Paul´s. Managed to work out they were asking if we were family and I um, said that Paul was my wife. Ooops. Brain wasn´t working properly as I did mean to say wife but meant to point at myself...
The bus ride took 5 hours through more pampa. We did manage to see rheas (emu) with lots of chicks (about 10 of them). Other than that, the drive was pretty dull.
The hostel we are staying in, America Del Sur, is really good. El Calafate is very touristy so English is spoken here, but it also means things are a bit more expensive.
12 Jan
Early start for trip to Perito Moreno glaciar. We´ve taken the cheapest option which is a bus to the glaciar (no guide), have 2 hours at the glaciar and then back on the bus (no stopping for photos).
We managed to see a zorro (fox) on the way to the glaciar. The landscape was mainly pampa so not much to see for 1.5 hours until we saw the glaciar in the distance - it looked stunning. We were about 20mins away when we first saw it.
There are boardwalks on different levels for you to walk on. We went down to the lowest level and noticed how blue some of the sections were. We started to hear cracks and and rifle shot sounds coming from the glaciar and hoped we would see some of the ice falling off.
We watched for an hour and then noticed very small sections dribbling into the glaciar in front of us (it sounded v loud when it landed in the water/ice). Another 10mins and then a chunk fell off, smashed into the side of the glaciar and entered the water with a crash. It was amazing to see and hear.
Sun 13 Jan
Woke up to find the water was not working! We headed into town and walked to Lago Nimenz which is a bird sanctuary and surprisingly enough, we saw a lot of birds. It was a lovely walk, especially as the sun was out.
