Perito Moreno Glacier

How is the Perito Moreno Glacier not one of the seven natural wonders of the world?!

It was finally time to whip out the snow gear I had been lugging around because it was time to go ICE TREKKING!!!

I basically had to crawl onto the bus at 7 AM to Calafate after a fun last night in the hostel at ElChalten. There are really only 2 things to do in this small city: shop or go to the Perito Moreno glacier. As most of you know shopping is not my thing, so I had the rest of the day to sleep and relax. Unfortunately, I had left the camping at Fitz Roy with painful blisters so I was not against the idea ata ll! The hostel was a very social one but I was passed out in the dorm before the BBQ even started! That was embarassing. It wasn´t a horrible idea though considering 6 AM the next morning I was heading out the door to visit the most incredible galcier in the world!

With my heels bandaged carefully, I got suited up in my white and blue fluffy snow jacket and electric purple snow pants to tackle it. The only way to go trekking is through a tour so I forked over the money; but really, how often do you get to go ice trekking? It included a boat trip, 2 hours on the ice, and time to tour the balconies. From Calafate (being the nearest town), we drove 2 hours through pristine forest to arrive at the national park. It was raining when we got there yet everyone was up on the decks of the boat staring as we got our first looks at the beast. The front wall that greeted us was between 40 and 60 meters high. With the early morning sun, this sheer ice wall was literally glittering. Around the edges, massive fallen ice chunks floated in the cloudy water. The sharp ridges and crack sthat ran across it were intimidating. And I am sitting there thinking to myself, "Am I seriously going to go climb this thing?! Are you kidding me?!"

All the clients were divided up into 3 groups; mine was the ´foreigners´ group. Funny enough, we only came from 3 countries: the US, England, and most were from Israel. We hiked to the edge of the glacier where the staff helped strap on our medieval cramp-ons. All they were were metal rectangles with 3 cm spikes on the underside. They were so frickin heavy that walking had suddenly become foreign. My first steps on the ice were baby ones but after few minutes of walking class I was trying to run up ice hills. Our guides had to keep me on a tight leash throughout the whole trip. I was indulging a bit too much in the ability to explore odd places that the cramp-ons gave me. After climbing up & down, peering into deep crevasses, and hiking to different valleys on the glacier, we finished with alfajores (cookie sandwiches of dulce de leche)and whiskey on ice. Normally no one falls but we recorded 3 by the end of the trek. Stupid foreigners.

After lunch we got a 2nd boat trip heading to the balconies where we zoomed up really close to the wall. It gave me a better perspective on how gigantic this monsterous glacier really is. The balconies where constructed into the hillside opposite the glacier offering the perfect panoramic views. It was breathtaking to be able to step back and look at the glacier in its entirety. The front wall reaching 60m above water with another 140m underneath, 3 km wide in the front, and stretching for even more kilometers into the snowy mountainous distant was just...wow!

There was the Perito Moreno glacier.

Once in a lifetime.