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Published: April 27th 2009
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Size of Perito Moreno Glacier
next to a boat to show the size We are in El Calafate now, a small town in the southern patagonia area (but north of where we were last, in Ushuaia). This town is where people come to see the Perito Moreno Glacier, a massive block of ice that is know for being one of few glaciers that is actually advancing and not receding (global warming for ya). It moves outward at about 7 feet per day and is over 200 feet high! I guess that every so often it advances to the land and creates a dam of water behind it and when the pressure is great enough the dam bursts and creates a massive explosion of ice and water that is supposed to be ablsoultely awesome to witness!
Jeff had been anticipating this for quite a while! Unfortunately, the cost of seeing the glacier is insanely high compared to most everything else in Argentina. The cost of the hour and a half long bus to the glacier in itself is about half of the cost of a bus to get a good ways across Argentina. So, we decided we would try to save some money and hitchhike to the park. We made a sign in the
morning, left at about 7:30 AM and walked about 45 min out of town to the road that leads to the park. We were told by a local about a good place to wait for cars and fortunately as soon as we got to that area a tour shuttle stopped and let us get on, super quick and easy! It was a little strange b/c we had not been holding out our sign to any busses or shuttles, but he stopped for us anyway. And of course we felt slightly guilty about being on a bus with a bunch of paying customers, but oh well! Everyone was quite friendly and we made it there without paying!
So, we have been hanging out in this town and waiting for a good opportunity to head up to El Chalten. El Chalten is a small village north of us, in the same national park and is the hub of treking/backpacking/mountain climbing and is where the Fitz Roz Mountain is located. From the town supposedly you can just walk in any direction to find a trail that will take you out backpacking. We are planning to stay there for a week or two
and do lots of backpacking... unfortunately the weather here is very unpredictable and we have seen lots of rain (which has already put a damper on our camping around here). So we will play it by ear and may head up to Bariloche a little early.
It is interesting but we keep bumping into the same people over and over again... in hostels, bars, at the glacier, etc. So we have been able to make some friends to hang out with, share information with, etc... and surprisingly we have met NO other americans! Many people from England, Netherlands, Australia, etc. And almost everyone has been traveling completely solo! Which has led to many conversations about why young people in America dont do much traveling... The people we have met are mostly taking time off after finishing college, or have done some college, and dont have an idea about a career plan. I think that in the USA we have some negative pressures that force young people to figure out their career early... to get a job immediately after college... to get married quickly. Most of the Europeans we have talked to have said that the age of getting married
Calving
Next few pics show the glacier in the process of calving... this was awesome to see and this somewhat small looking chunk that fell off made a huge cracking sound is much much older in Europe, most of the 25 ish year olds have no married friends. Anyway, I thought I would make a note of that here, so that any of you younger people who are feeling pressure to hurry up and figure out your life would realize that things are very different in most of the rest of the world... and it might be a good idea to take things easy, and maybe do a little traveling while you are young and free. I have heard that Argentina is beautiful. 😊 Of course all of this is rather easy for me to say, being married and pretty set on a career path...
Alright, while pray for no more rain for us so we can get out and do some backpacking here pretty soon! Tonight, we are going to check out an Estancia (ranch, with real Gauchos!) and do some horse-back riding... that is if it doesnt start raining here again. And we just bought our bus tickets to Chalten, so we will be leaving here tomorrow morning. I will update when possible!
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Anj
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The glacier is so pretty! I started reading this book called "Ice Bound" (If I am remembering right) about a doc wintering over at the south pole who diagnoses and then treats her own breast cancer until a plane can pick her up at the end of the winter. It's really good and makes me think of you...ice, doctor, south of the equator :) you should read it when you return this summer. Can't wait to read more Latham adventures!