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South America » Argentina » Santa Cruz » El Calafate
March 16th 2012
Published: March 16th 2012
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Ok, this is going to be big. I've got a week's worth of stuff to write about so I'll try to keep it concise. Also I'm dedicating this one to all those who did Geography at school, Mr Lemoine included, as I am now literally THE big dog of seeing glacial features. I was all like "why hello there lateral and terminal morraines forming barriers to the corrie lake or tarn that sits in front of the frost shattered back wall layered with scree deposits". Anyways:

The week has been amazing, although the name of this place is slightly decieving in that I have so far not patted any gonias at all. First things first, Monday. This was the day of the visit to the Perito Moreno Glacier, which according to trustworthy sources translates as the Glacier of Moronic Peter. We took a bus there and the first stop was a small viewing platform on the side of the road, quite a distance from the glacier itself. This created a nice build up to seeing it up close. We then drove to a port on the Lago Argentina and took a boat right up to the front of the south facing side, before docking to do the ice trek. It really was amazing. It's absolutely enormous and stretches right across the lake with thousands of crevasses that let off different shades of vivid blue. Apparently the extremely cracked nature of the surface of the glacier is due to drought (according to the same trustworthy source). We then put on our crampons and took to the ice, seeing lots of very cool features along the way. The highlight had to be when we were given whisky with ice from the glacier and a load of free biscuits. Seeing the yeti was alright as well. We had lunch after this and took another boat trip even closer to the glacier before getting back on the bus and driving to some viewing platforms from which you could see both the south and north sides of the glacier. It was from here that we saw, and caught on camera, some huge chunks of ice calving into the water - an awesome sight, we could predict when it was going to happen by listening to the groaning noises of the moving ice. I must move on.

The next day we went to El Chalten, the hiking capital of Argentina. The hikes we did there must have been some of the nicest walks I've ever done. The weather was perfect and the walks took us through glaciated valleys (u-shaped glacial troughs with truncated spurs leaving behind a misfit stream) that were filled with general greenery and rivers from which we could drink. The mountain water was so nice and refreshing. The two big hikes we did both followed the same rough pattern, leading up to glacial lakes (corries) with incredibly sharp and spiking mountain peaks in the background. The first was to Laguna Torre, by Cerro Torre, the second was to Laguna de los tres, at the base of Mt Fitzroy - a mountain that claims the lives of about 10 climbers a year.The latter was the nicer walk with unbelievable views of the surrounding valleys and a spot by the lake where we could sit, do nothing and look at the condors flying above us. We rewarded ourselves after the long walk with undoubtedly the nicest steak I have ever eaten - the Bife de Lomo (fillet I believe). Back at the hostel, we pondered as to why it seems that all the buildings in El Chaltén appear to be made of sheet metal and cardboard. Perhaps it's just a pop-up town constructed as part of an elaborate ruse. Suspicious.



Right i have no more energy to type anything else, I doubt I'll even be able to finish this sente

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