Today we went "minitrekking", a trip to the Perito Moreno glacier. They picked us up in a bus at 8am (early for us these days!) and after entering the national park, we boarded a small boat that took us to an area right next to the glacier. Seeing the enormous glacier approaching over sparkling water was breathtaking.
Once we arrived, we dropped our gear off and walked up towards the glacier. While standing in awe, a chunk broke off and smashed into the water. We felt like we were in a movie.
The title of this posting is Fortress of Solitude because the blue ice shoots out of the ocean and reminded us for Superman´s resting place. The bright blue looks fake up close. When you move off a layer of snow, the blue shines through as though there is a light right underneath.
Then we walked up to put on some campons (the spiked shoe attachments used for ice climbing) and hiked up into the glacier. It looked like we were in a desert of ice with mountains all around us and hidden deathly crevasses. We walked and walked and when we hit a high peak, we could see a flowing river on one side and endless ice on the other. It makes us feel very, very small. As it turns out, you could fit the city of Buenos Aires on Perito Moreno and it is actually part of a much bigger strand of glaciers the size of Japan.
At the end of our glacier hike, we were fed Alfajores (chocolate covered cookies with dulce de leche in the center), whiskey (yes, whiskey) and water taken straight from the ground. Glacier water really does taste amazing.
After returning and eating some lunch, we headed back to the bus and went to the north face of the glacier where there are some walking paths and look out points. From there we were able to get a better idea of how vast it is. The surface is jagged for miles. It actually mimics the ocean bed terrain that it rests on.
Neither of us have ever seen anything like it.
Enjoy some of our personal pictures (we took them all ourselves, no internet downloads!) that I have just uploaded. I´m working on getting the video in.
