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Published: April 7th 2007
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The road to Morreno
The alternative route to the Morreno glacier where we encountered lots of birds of prey. Morreno Perito Glaciar
I have well and truly DONE the Morreno glacier from every angle!! We took the “alternative” tour which started with us taking a slower dirt road to get to the glacier giving us a different view of the landscape. We stopped on the way to look at various birds of prey eating carrion off the road and also to meet a baby guanaco (like a llama). I fell in love with her big beseeching eyes and fluttering eyelashes. Once at Morreno we hiked for an hour and a half to giving us views of the glacier from a distance and close up. This was the most “alternative” thing as the main hordes of tourists just get coached to the platforms, take a picture and move on. We also “did” the platform views and witnessed a huge chunk of ice calving off the front of this glacier. The ice at the front is 500 years old! Morreno isn’t retreating or advancing but it is a very active glacier so there were several booms of ice descending whilst we were there. The glacier day ended with a boat trip that took us as close as possible to the
Baby guanaco
One, two, three now...awwwwwwwww front of the glacier. You can’t get too close as chunks of ice can fly through the air when it calves and 30 people died between 1967 and 1987 before the regulations came in. The boat trip was made amusing by the coach full of Argentinean OAPs that we were sharing it with. They were obsessed with their digital cameras and managed to get in all our photos by just barging their way in front of you - hilarious!
Ice adventures
From El Calafate we had a short drive up to El Chalten. This little village is only 21 years old and has grown simply due to the tourist industry. El Chalten is now a rock climbing meca and there are also plenty of other outdoor activities that you can do in the Fitzroy mountain range. The town itself has 3 dirt roads, one supermarket and a couple of shops and restaurants. We rolled into town just at the end of the season so the population was even lower than normal. It was a strange sight in the dusk with the wind whipping dust along the empty roads. Honestly, I have never encountered winds like the ones in
Patagonia, it is amazing I haven’t blown away yet. Sadly I think El Chalten may soon be ruined with the addition of more and more upmarket hotels, we could see building sites everywhere. El Chalten turned out to be quite a big spend for me as on my first day there I went…..glacier trekking!!!
The day in itself was exhausting. We left town at 7am (still dark!) and hiked up into the mountains to get to the glacier. At one point this involved doing a zipline across a river and pulling ourselves across! Once at Glacier Grande we donned our crampons and took to the ice. It took a little while for some of us to master the technique (lots of stamping!) - Carly was name “dangerous girl” due to her slipping and sliding. Our guide found a safe path for us through the various crevasses. It was like a mini-landscape out there with mini rivers, waterfalls and canyons in the ice. The hardwork was yet to come though. After lunch we all attempted to climb a 15m high ice wall with the assistance of two ice picks and our crampons! (well, there was a safety rope too…) There
On the approach
The Morreno Perito glaciar as we approached on our "alternative" trek. were 2 guys and 5 girls on the trip and of them only two of the girls, including myself, made it to the top so I was a little proud! It was very tough as the blood drained from your hands and your legs shook in their crampons. After this we still had to hike back and we didn’t get back to town until 7pm. All in all we hiked 30km on top of the ice trekking and climbing!
Meeting Mariposa
You’d think that after this I’d have a quiet day in to rest my aching bones but oh no! The next day I had a little lie in before a full day of horse riding. This was a great way to see the Fitzroy range without huffing and puffing up the mountain sides (me, lazy?). Mariposa my horse (it means butterfly) got me all the way up to our lunch spot with stunning views of Largo Argentino, Glacier Grande, Glacier Torre and the Fitzroy peaks. As per usual the horses were a lot sprightlier on the way home and I, and some of the other more experienced riders, got a good few canters. My riding is come
back to me slowly although I’m still not used to the American reins and saddle.
I will be getting to improve my riding even more tomorrow as I’m doing some more riding in Bariloche. It took us two long days of driving along the infamous Route 40 dirt road, through even more emptiness, to get from El Chalten to Bariloche. I still haven’t got used to the vastness of the landscape down in Patagonia. Charlie and I are still the most hyperactive on the truck and get very bored on the long truck days so we have to be amused with card games and DJ sessions on ipods to break up the endless reading and sleeping cycles. We had one rough camp which was by a river outside an army base. The trucks of army boys driving past got very excited at the sight of 16 women!(yes the truck of 23 is very biased towards the female sex).
Chocolate Heaven
Bariloche is in the heart of the Argentinian Lake District. However it reminds me more of the Alps than the rainy Lake District of the UK. The peaks are a bit higher and there is a lot of
skiing here in the winter. We have just caught the beginning of autumn so there are lovely blue skies and the leaves are turning. I will also be going kayaking here which is apparently one of the best ways to get a feel for the beauty of the lakes and surrounding landscape. We picked a good town to have Easter in as there are chocolate shops galore! We are having truck secret Easter Bunny so that everyone gets at least one scrummy treat. As always, gotta dash, a group of us are cooking diner together at the hostel. Chou!
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