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After an evening recovering from the mental trauma of the bus trip and an early night we did pretty much the only thing that there is to do in El Calafate...go to the Perito Moreno glacier. After a minibus ride on which the tour guide's description of Patagonian geology managed to send Alice to sleep we turned up at where we supposed to get the boat. However the ridiculous levels of wind meant the crossing was unsafe and that we needed to come back at 2pm, so instead we were dropped off at the "balconies", a series of walkways on the slopes overlooking where the glacier meets the lake. The views were spectacular and the photos, as with a lot of things on this trip, simply don't do the place justice as they dont capture the sheer scale of it nor the noises of groaning, creeking ice and the occasional crack and splash as a lump of ice the size of a small van plummets into the lake. After wandering around taking photos, standing in awe and of course eating some pan blanco con dulce de leche we headed back down to the pier to meet the boat. After a surprisingly calm boat crossing we docked on the other side of the lake we got an explanation as to why the glacier gained as much ice as it lost every year(snow compression or something) which meant it was one of very few glaciers in the world that wasn't receding. Then it was up to the foot of the glacier where they gave us some crampons that looked rather menacing but seemed to do the job. The tour guide explained all the obvious safety stuff and then we set off walking over the ridges of ice on a tour round the lower reaches of the glacier. A thoroughly surreal experience which at times, when walking through valleys and over peaks made of ice, gave the impression of being on that ice planet in Star Wars. After an hour and a half of walking they gave us one final, and very welcome, surprise. Having rounded a corner in the ice we were presented with generous drams of Famous Grouse(on the rocks...the rocks being lumps of the glacier ice) and as many Alfajores as we could eat, a very satisfying end to the day! Back in the town we arranged the bus to Puerto Natales for the next day, from where we hoped to catch a southbound bus to Punta Arenas to spend the night before getting the bus/ferry from there to Ushuaia and El Fin del Mundo!
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