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Anither bus journey crossing back into Argentina - they are starting to merge into one.
After failing to find the right way to walk to our hostel we got a cab and were glad we did as the hostel was down a long hill then up another one - one to be avoided given my propensity to fall over!
We were greeted at the hostel like long-lost friends and immediately felt welcome. Out room was not yet available so we left our bags and headed into town for lunch. A quick explore then settling in and an early (8 o'clock!) dinner before an early night in our comfortable room with a view over the largest lake in Argentina.
Next day was the trip to the Perito Moreno glacier and we had opted for the one that took the old road there so we saw lots of wildlife - birds of prey, rheas and guanacos. We stopped at an estancia that had an amazing view over the mountains as well as cute calves, sheep and a very friendly/curious guanaco.
Heading into the park we went straight for the boat trip which took us with hundreds of metres of the glacier. It is huge! We felt so small and insignificant next to one of the world's few stable glaciers. We got back to our guide to be told that today was the day the water from the part of the lake we had been on had broken through the ice plug to the the main lake on the other side. This sounded cool but it was only later we reaslised how important an event this was - the last time the rupture had happened was 2012. We then went to the area where the balconies were and walked around marvelling at the size of the glacier and becoming addicted to watching chunks of the ice falling off as the rupture started to create the ice bridge which would collapse sometime in the next few days. At one of the balconies we saw film crew - including National Geographic - arriving only 3 hours after the ice broke to this remote part of Argentina.
Another good tour came to an end and now back at the hostel we we relieved we did not have a 30 hour bus trip ahead as we had decided to fly to Bariloche - a 1hr 45 minute journey costing only £15 more! Nice meal (no meat!) in Pura Vida before bed.
This extra day allowed Helen to go horse riding and me to laze around doing nothing much except discover that the rupture was being cover 8-8 by 2 tv channels continously. I then got square eyes watching chunks of ice crashing into the lake. BBQ in the hostel before bed.
The morning before we left we watched tv for 90 minutes before heading to the nature reserve. Walking around looking at ducks we came to a section we could not cross as the lake level had risen due to the rupture. By the time we returned to the main office the ice bridge had fallen and we watched it back on youTube with the nature reserve staff.
Quick lunch before heading to the airport for our short flight to Bariloche. The hostel here was a wake up call for Helen - very clean with friendly staff but we ended up in bunk beds in a small room with no private bathroom - a bit of a come down.
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