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Our Year of Adventure
Breakfast in Hospedaje Flores del Sur was very basic to say the least. Everything seemed to have been laid out on the table the night before with only the hot water being made in the morning. Coffee was in a tea bag, something we had never seen before and it tasted worse than the usual Nescafe. There was two small slices of toast and one slice of sweet bread each, hardly enough to satisfy a mouse but enough to get us out the door.
Before boarding our bus to the Glacier, we bought tickets to El Chaltén for tomorrow morning. RP bus company had the cheapest return fare, 250 pesos, from El Calafate to the Perito Moreno Glacier. The bus left shortly after the scheduled 9:30am departure and took 1.5 hours to get to the destination. As it was part of the National Park, we needed to pay 215 pesos each for entry. Fortunately a guy came on the bus to sell the tickets, otherwise it would have taken ages with people wandering off etc.
There were amazing views as we continued our drive into the park. We had our first glimpse of the glacier from the bus and it was more spectacular than we imagined it might be. It was huge, even compared to Glacier Grey that we had seen a couple of days ago.
Some people were dropped off for the boat ride, we decided not to do it as it didn't seem good value for money. For 180 pesos you were only on the lake for an hour and you don't get right up to the glacier either. We had also decided not to do the glacier trek after hearing mixed reviews about it. Maria has already done it in New Zealand and there is of course lots of opportunities for snow and ice walking in Finland for free.
We were finally dropped of at the point where all the walkways start from at 11:45am and were told to be back there for the 3:30pm departure. It gave us just under four hours to walk around and watch the advancing glacier.
The walkways are very organized, they are like boardwalks with rails either side to prevent (well, discourage) anyone from trying to make their way down the steep hillside towards the base of the glacier for an even closer look. The walkways are maybe 800m away from the actual face of the glacier, but due to it's size, you feel you are a lot closer and the view can only be described as amazing. It's not just visual either, while you are walking you constantly hear 'rifle cracks' as ice breaks within the glacier.Occasionaly the break is on the outer edge and a big chunk of ice crashes into the the water below with a deafening roar.
In relation to other glaciers in the world, Perito Moreno is considered one of the 'healthiest' glaciers on earth because instead of shrinking, like most others, it's actually growing. On average, the glacier advances 40cm a day on the edges and 2m in the middle. That seems a lot, but when you consider that the height at the front of the glacier is about 60 metres, it's 5 kilometres wide and it extends 14 kilometres back into the mountains, it's actually not that much movement. It's hard to understand how big it actually is without having something to show the scale, that was where the boat was handy, it gave us a bit of perspective as it sailed as close as it dared to the face.
And that wasn't particularly close because what seemed like little pieces of ice falling down were actually the size of cars. When they hit the water they can split and throw 'smaller' pieces hundreds of metres away from the glacier. Thirty eight foolhardy people, who went closer to the glacier than allowed, have actually paid with their life when hit by these 'smaller' pieces. We were lucky enough to see a couple of dozen collapses, two of the bigger ones being the size of houses - that was spectacular!!
The bus took us back to town for 5pm and we immediately checked the emails for responses for our El Chaltén accommodation requests. To our dismay they were all full. Our fall back position was to book a very expensive hotel through Booking.com, we had no other option because a) we wanted to go tramping there and b) we had already booked the bus for the morning.
We had arranged to meet Carlee and Andy at 6pm and, as usual, we were a bit late. It was a bit of a last minute arrangement though because their travel plans had been turned upside down. We were originally supposed to meet them in Ushuaia after they finished their cruise to the Antarctic, but their boat had broken down and the trip canceled.
We had a drink Librobar to hear their tale and to share our experiences, they told us about Ushuaia and we explained the pros and cons of the Torres del Paine W Trek.
After a couple of drinks, we took a walk down the main drag to find a restaurant for dinner and ended up near the end of the street at Mako, which seemed to specialise in grilled meat. We shared some morcilla (blood sausage) for starters, for mains David ordered the lamb cooked whole over the wood fire while Maria stuck with a standard steak. The meal was served at the table on a huge wooden board with horseshoes for handles. Our waiter seemed a bit tipsy, he had to confirm our orders couple of times and still managed to get the wrong side dish for the girls. All the food, and the wine, was stunning though even if it wasn't quite what was ordered.
With the meal finished, we said our last goodbyes to Carlee and Andy because we won't see them again on this trip. No doubt we will meet up again in either New Zealand or Australia.
Before boarding our bus to the Glacier, we bought tickets to El Chaltén for tomorrow morning. RP bus company had the cheapest return fare, 250 pesos, from El Calafate to the Perito Moreno Glacier. The bus left shortly after the scheduled 9:30am departure and took 1.5 hours to get to the destination. As it was part of the National Park, we needed to pay 215 pesos each for entry. Fortunately a guy came on the bus to sell the tickets, otherwise it would have taken ages with people wandering off etc.
There were amazing views as we continued our drive into the park. We had our first glimpse of the glacier from the bus and it was more spectacular than we imagined it might be. It was huge, even compared to Glacier Grey that we had seen a couple of days ago.
Some people were dropped off for the boat ride, we decided not to do it as it didn't seem good value for money. For 180 pesos you were only on the lake for an hour and you don't get right up to the glacier either. We had also decided not to do the glacier trek after hearing mixed reviews about it. Maria has already done it in New Zealand and there is of course lots of opportunities for snow and ice walking in Finland for free.
We were finally dropped of at the point where all the walkways start from at 11:45am and were told to be back there for the 3:30pm departure. It gave us just under four hours to walk around and watch the advancing glacier.
The walkways are very organized, they are like boardwalks with rails either side to prevent (well, discourage) anyone from trying to make their way down the steep hillside towards the base of the glacier for an even closer look. The walkways are maybe 800m away from the actual face of the glacier, but due to it's size, you feel you are a lot closer and the view can only be described as amazing. It's not just visual either, while you are walking you constantly hear 'rifle cracks' as ice breaks within the glacier.Occasionaly the break is on the outer edge and a big chunk of ice crashes into the the water below with a deafening roar.
In relation to other glaciers in the world, Perito Moreno is considered one of the 'healthiest' glaciers on earth because instead of shrinking, like most others, it's actually growing. On average, the glacier advances 40cm a day on the edges and 2m in the middle. That seems a lot, but when you consider that the height at the front of the glacier is about 60 metres, it's 5 kilometres wide and it extends 14 kilometres back into the mountains, it's actually not that much movement. It's hard to understand how big it actually is without having something to show the scale, that was where the boat was handy, it gave us a bit of perspective as it sailed as close as it dared to the face.
And that wasn't particularly close because what seemed like little pieces of ice falling down were actually the size of cars. When they hit the water they can split and throw 'smaller' pieces hundreds of metres away from the glacier. Thirty eight foolhardy people, who went closer to the glacier than allowed, have actually paid with their life when hit by these 'smaller' pieces. We were lucky enough to see a couple of dozen collapses, two of the bigger ones being the size of houses - that was spectacular!!
The bus took us back to town for 5pm and we immediately checked the emails for responses for our El Chaltén accommodation requests. To our dismay they were all full. Our fall back position was to book a very expensive hotel through Booking.com, we had no other option because a) we wanted to go tramping there and b) we had already booked the bus for the morning.
We had arranged to meet Carlee and Andy at 6pm and, as usual, we were a bit late. It was a bit of a last minute arrangement though because their travel plans had been turned upside down. We were originally supposed to meet them in Ushuaia after they finished their cruise to the Antarctic, but their boat had broken down and the trip canceled.
We had a drink Librobar to hear their tale and to share our experiences, they told us about Ushuaia and we explained the pros and cons of the Torres del Paine W Trek.
After a couple of drinks, we took a walk down the main drag to find a restaurant for dinner and ended up near the end of the street at Mako, which seemed to specialise in grilled meat. We shared some morcilla (blood sausage) for starters, for mains David ordered the lamb cooked whole over the wood fire while Maria stuck with a standard steak. The meal was served at the table on a huge wooden board with horseshoes for handles. Our waiter seemed a bit tipsy, he had to confirm our orders couple of times and still managed to get the wrong side dish for the girls. All the food, and the wine, was stunning though even if it wasn't quite what was ordered.
With the meal finished, we said our last goodbyes to Carlee and Andy because we won't see them again on this trip. No doubt we will meet up again in either New Zealand or Australia.
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