I should warn you ahead of time -- this is going to be a long one. If you want the short version, it goes something like "Blah, Blah, Blah...Icebergs...Blah, Blah, Blah...Glaciers...Blah, Blah, Blah...Breathtaking." For everyone else who is bored at work or has nothing better to do, read on.
Wednesday -- In Which I Glimpse Icebergs
The first day, I got up super early to go on a boat excursion on Lake Argentina and check out some of the so-called "smaller" glaciers. It was completely pitch black when we left at 7:30 am -- the sun doesn't rise in El Calafate until around 9:30 am. This was the first time in my life -- and probably the last -- that I managed to be up before the sunrise three days in a row.
We entered the park and started to board the boat, and immediately I realized how underdressed I was for the excursion. I had on a ski coat (without my liner, which I didn't feel like packing) and that was about it. In my sleep-deprived stupor, I couldn't find my gloves. And, I didn't even bother packing a hat or scarf. I'm not sure how after 17 years of schooling it did not occur to me that a trip to see glaciers -- on a boat -- might be cold.
But, I played through. Being cold was not the worst part of the boat trip. No, shortly after I got on board, I realized that by some stroke of horrible luck, every irritating person I had encountered thus far in my trip from Buenos Aires to El Calafate was on the boat. Cranky old American woman who yelled at her husband in the BA airport? Check. Woman I almost took out at the baggage carousel in the El Calafate airport? Check. And, oh yes, all 40 of the loud and pushy, middle-aged Argentine businessmen staying at my hotel? Check.
But again, I played through. The cranky American woman turned out to be nice, and her husband was a ridiculously cute 70+ year-old New Yorker now living in Queens (originally from Brooklyn) who had been married for 50 years (but not to the cranky woman) before his wife died (may she rest in peace). The woman from the baggage carousel also turned out to be nice. The businessmen continued to be overbearing, but these are little problems.
Anyway, the glaciers we saw that day were pretty awesome. But, even cooler were the icebergs. The captain navigated our boat through a minefield of icebergs to get to the Upsala glacier. There were a few (seemingly) close calls, and it was all I could do not to yell out "Iceberg, Straight Ahead" in a goofy cockney accent. (For the record, it's the same British accent I use when saying "Hallo Guvn'r.") Of course, then I would collapse into giggles and the people near me would shoot me strange looks.
The icebergs ranged in size from big to small. They also ranged in color -- some looked like small translucent ice sculptures rising out of the water, others were mammoth chunks of jagged windex-colored ice, and a few even reminded me of the icey "blue" flavor of the striped Good Humor snowcones from my youth. A few pics:
Thursday -- In Which I Glimpse Awesomeness
On Thursday, I went to see the BIG glacier -- Perito Moreno. This glacier is HUGE. It's 5km wide, 30km long, and rises some 60 meters above the water. It's so big that on the other side of the glacier is Chile.
The glaciers are all nestled in the Andes mountains. The first time I saw the Andes mountains was last fall when we all went to Argentine wine country, Mendoza. We went horseback riding on an estancia at the foot of the mountains. It was without question one of the most memorable days of my life, in large part because of the scenery. Beautiful blue sky, puffy white clouds, and the overwhelming and majestic mountains. So, I was excited about seeing the mountains again in Patagonia.
The thing is, I cannot even begin to describe how beautiful the Andes mountains are, and how it makes me feel to be around them. Neither words nor pictures come even close. The same thing is true of the glacier Perito Moreno. It is truly breathtaking. I spent a long time just staring at the glacier at different observation decks. I felt very small and humbled in the presence of the grandeur of the scenery, blessed to have the opportunity to see it in person, and connected with nature in a spiritual (albeit non-religious) kind of way. I'm including some pictures, but these pale in comparison to the real thing:
You can't see it in these pictures, but earlier in the day there was a full double rainbow over the glacier.
One of the things that's cool is when the glacier "calves." Calving is when a piece of the glacier breaks off into the water, forming an iceberg. I saw a huge 50 meter piece of the glacier break into small pieces and fall into the water. You can tell when the glacier is about to calve, because you hear a loud, thunderous rumble.
The other interesting thing is how different the scenery is in El Calafate, the town where I was staying about an hour away. My hotel overlooked Lake Argentina, the same lake that surrounds the glaciers. But, in El Calafate the lake is a beautiful, deep turquoise blue color, as if you were in the Caribbean, whereas near the glaciers it is a more translucenty shade of blue. Also, the land on the way from El Calafate to the glaciers is borderline desert -- brown, flat plateaus with sheep and yellow calafate plants dotting the landscape. There are no buildings around except for a random estancia house every now and then, and you can see across the land for miles.
This is near the entrance to the park.
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