Perito Moreno Glacier--A Few Hours in Argentina

My first full day in Puerto Natales I decided to take a day trip to Argentina to visit the Perito Moreno Glacier. This was a huge commitment of 10 hours round-trip in a tour van of 15 people. I was "pleased" to find that my tour had forgetten me, and the agency sent over a chaufer in a truck who drove like a bat out of hell to catch up with my tour van, which we finally did at the Argentine border crossing. I seriously thought I was going to die several times as he flew past lines of busses on a one-lane dirt road through clouds of dust that obscured the route. I took my place at the back of the van between several dour European males who were none to pleased that I was using up their extra stretching room. However, once we reached the glacier, all the pain of the trip was worth it. The glacier spills out from the mountains into a lake, where the glacial melt blocks off two parts of the lake from each other as the ice builds a bridge between the glacier and the peninsula. This glacier is so famous because over time, the lake on one side of the glacier builds up until the pressure of the water is so great that it forces a path through the glacier, causing an explosion of ice. Apparently, this used to happen every four years or so, but since 1988, the glacier has been showing the effects of global warming, and now the explosions happen every one to two years. This was also the first year that the glacier was melting during the winter, and also the first year that the glacier is no longer growing in size. The new ice created is merely enough to retain the size of the glacier.

First, we took a boat ride on the lake side of the glacier and patrolled in front of it, waiting for the calving of the ice. We saw several chunks of various sizes calve off the glacier and crash into the water below. The sound was a cross between thunder, cannon fire (or gun shots when the pieces of glacier were smaller), and a car accident. After an hour on the lake, we then went to a hill overlooking the glacier, where there were a series of paths to various platforms that provided different views of the glacier. It was a pretty cool experience to see such a huge and dynamic glacier up close. It was breathtaking scenery, and I learned a lot. Like the gorgeous blue-grey water is called "glacier milk" because all the glacial minerals that dissolve in the water give it a milky appearance. It wasn't a super clear day, but that ended up being better for us, because glaciers, which are made of ice and thus natually clear or white, appear more blue during cloudy days. The blueness of glaciers is an optical illusion caused by the reflection of light. As a result, many parts of Perito Moreno seemed to glow blue.

Ice bergs in the lake.
Anticipating out trip from the dock.

Ice bergs floating next to the dock.

Our boat pulling an ice berg out of the way with ropes so it could dock. We saw the boat smack into small pieces of ice berg, which made a terrifying noise. I can totally see now how one of these bitches could sink the Titanic.

The approach.

The glacier spilling onto the peninsula. That little tunnel is where the water flows through. Eventually, this tunnel will be blocked and lead to the explosion of ice.

Muggin' on the boat.

I loved the different angles of these towers.

I got a little carried away with the camera because glaciers are so pretty!

The glacier is up to 70 meters in height above the water, and up to 140 meters below. In places up in the range behind, it reaches 1 kilometer in height.

Looking out across the expanse of the glacier, which extends beyond into the mountains.

Whose arm is that ruining my picture?

A view of the lake side where we had taken the boat tour.

A couple shots of the glacier spilling onto the peninsula.

On the way back to Chile, we stopped in the town of El Calafate for 30 minutes so our driver could rest. I ate ice cream with "fruta del bosque," these red berries from the forests around El Calafate. The legend goes that if you eat the berries, you will return to Patagonia. I definitely want to return, so I gobbled them up! They were pretty delicious! The drive back was endless, but I finally got to my hostel in Puerto Natales around 10 pm (after leaving at 8 am!). Animal Sighting of the Day: On the way back, a mama and baby skunk were crossing the road! The mama ran away and the baby froze, so the mama came back and stood over the top of her baby and they waddled away together with the baby protected under her mama's tummy. We all got out of the van and, intelligently, chased after them, but to no avail. My pictures are shit, they look like tiny black specks but we really weren't that far away! No one got sprayed, although I had a few key people in mind that I thought deserved it!