Perito Moreno - El Calafate

    A quick 18 hour bus ride and we arrived in El Calafate, home to Perito Moreno Glacier. The shuttle that we took out to see the glacier took an old-school dirt road where we passed over 30 hawks sitting on the fence waiting for their chance to catch some prey. We stopped at a rustic house that served coffee and pastries and watched the herd of horned sheep fight for dominance right outside the cabin. Back on the shuttle I turned on my ipod and day-dreamed looking out into the Patagonia landscape.
    Perito Moreno Glacier is massive. Two lakes (or one lake separated by a small stream) are fed by the glacier. There are walking boardwalks that give up-close and panoramic views of the glacier. We spent close to 3 hours taking pictures and checking out the glacier from multiple angles. Every once and a while a huge piece of the glacier would calve off into the water below, creating a gunshot like sound as the ice crashed into the water. If you heard the sound of the calve, then it was too late to see it. Before the boardwalks were installed, many tourists were injured or killed trying to get a close look at the glacier only to be wiped out by a falling piece of ice or the wave that it created when it fell into the water below.
    Before we hit the road back to town we hopped on a boat that gives an up-close view of the glacier. Being in a boat really put the glacier into perspective. On the boardwalk you are seeing the glacier at a higher level. From the boat, you can see that the glacier shoots 100 meters from the water in places, and stretches multiple kilometers wide.

    Paul and I made some food and drank some wine as we started to mentally prepare for the next part of our journey . . . going into the Patagonia outback for the full 7 to 8 day circuit covering over 100 kilometers with a pack on our backs.