Argentina

What the hell, we thought; let's make our stay in the cold weather even longer and take the opportunity to visit one of the few remaining advancing glaciers in the world! So we struggled up again at 6:15 in the morning to travel to El Calafate in Argentina to see this wonder. (yeah, I know, what horrible sacrifices one has to do in order to see something nowadays)

One of the glacier’s edges stretches into a lake forming a high wall of ice right on the waterfront. Winds from the Pacific Ocean bring loads of snow that fall down on the glacier where it over time gets crystallized to ice because of the tremendous weight.

30km long, 4km wide, 80m under the water and 50-60m over the water. That's about the dimensions of the Perito Moreno glacier we visited today. And I have to tell you it was amazing. There it lied. Beautifully turquoise, respectfully calm and shockingly astonishing. It just took ones breath away.

The glacier from afar

The glacier from afar

You could hear the glacier living. The sound from the moving ice was dramatic, sort of like in the Titanic movie. Every once in a while large pieces of ice broke loose from the glacier and then fell into the water. This is how the size of the glacier doesn't actually get bigger even though it is advancing by two meters a day. As much as it gains in size it will eventually lose because of the pieces falling off and melting into the surrounding water.

After marvelling at the wonder from across the lake we got on a boat and watched the action from close by. It was just astounding. We have never seen anything like that before. We won’t forget this day too easily.

However, how great it might be down here I'm reeeaally starting to miss the warm weather and I'm beginning to remember why we had decided not to visit any places where it's less than 25 degrees Celsius. I'm looking at the tan lines my sandals have left on my feet and nostalgically thinking back at the strolls in the hot sunshine back at Easter Island. Don't get me wrong, I would never trade the glacier experience for anything else, but you know what I mean.