El Calafate and the Petito Moreno Glacier

---

We are very excited to say that we went very far south into the Patagonian region of Argentina! After numerous hours on different buses, we finally arrived in a very nice town called El Calafate (population: 8000). El Calafate is quite touristy and expensive due to its close proximity to the Petito Moreno Glacier.

THE GLACIER

This glacier is stable and we heard it´s the only glacier that is NOT receding. It moves 2 m forward each day and it loses 2 m each day as peices of ice break off and fall into the glacial lake below we a huge sound like THUNDER. Pieces the size of houses fall off and make huges splashes as the chunks of ice break into smaller chunks upon hitting the water. We took a boat ride infront of the glacier and saw chunks fall off.

Scotch on the Rocks

When we are on the boat we saw a crew member get a net and they fished out a small chunk of ice from the water (about the size of pumpkin). We thought they were just getting it so they could show the tourists ice. Being from Canada, we didn´t really care much about the ice..............BUT THEN............Chloe saw them take the ice into the kitchen (the boat had a bar and served food)!!!!! We thought............cool, they´re using the ice from the glacier to keep things cold). BUT THEN...............we saw a woman with scotch on the rocks, and the ice in her cup was a big chunk so we made the connection, that the ice from the glacier was in her cup. SO, we had to get one too....................and took NUMEROUS photographs, which we will post later.

We are now in Buenos Aires in the central part of the city having fun, talk to you later!

---

Photos

Petito Moreno Glacier
The black marks are sediment from years ago. Nicole, if you want to elaborate, please do....