Day 17:
Today, we walk on a glacier. Perito Moreno glacier is 19 miles long and is the only glacier in South America that is not shrinking. Scientists can't explain why.
Here is our approach, first by bus:
Then by boat:
The blue parts (from light refraction) look unreal:
The landing:
Parts of the glacier calved, or fell off the main body, while we were there. You first hear something akin to metal buckling/thunder, then two trucks colliding, and finally a tumbling down like a skyscraper being dynamited. Minutes after the ice falls into the water, a huge wave would lap onto our shore. The face you see there is about ten stories high.
We put on some really beat up crampons and start walking on the glacier:
The mini trek (that's what the tour operator calls the walk on the glacier) ends with a glass of Famous Grouse whisky served with glacier ice.
After the trek, we sit down for a picnic lunch and I notice the rock below me. I assume that's caused by moving ice:
In the afternoon, we take the boat to the tourist center, where there is a better view of the glacier.
3 comments:
Nice touch, the Famous Grouse Whisky served with glacier ice. I've really enjoyed all your South American trip postings, but this one is really something else. Well done for the whole series.
Thanks, Ozmac! I felt bad for the young lady who acted as a pack mule and had to carry up a wooden table, bottles of whisky, and 30 glasses for us on the glacier.
Love the pictures. I remember seeing Portage Glacier in Alaska but that doesn't hold a candle to this.
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