Day 19 - Perito Moreno Glacier

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The Perito Moreno Glacier was not actually discovered by the man it was named after but by an Englishman named Thomas Rocher in 1879. The English settled in this area during the Industrial revolution when they had run out of land for sheep farming (for wool) in Europe. The farms (estancias) are huge due to the poor quality of land - 2 to 4 acres is needed per sheep. Farms can reach over 600,000 acres. The glacier is one of the only 2 advancing glaciers in South America, it has grown 700m since its discovery. It extends 60m above the lake and 180m below, reaching 5km in width and 30km in length, but we are looking forward to seeing even bigger ones in a few days. On the way to the glacier we spotted lots of white chested eagles and crested caracaras. We also learnt the fable of the Calafate bush, rumoured that if you eat its fruit you will be guaranteed to return. The coffee shop we stopped at on the way had a resident baby llama!! Which I got to feed!!! The llama got a lot of attention, especially from Ishii, who thought it would be a good idea to give the resident kitten a ride on the llamas back, what a legend!

Arriving at the glacier, we took the platforms down to the perfect viewing spot, where we patiently waited for chunks of ice to fall off. We were very lucky that we saw lots of action and even managed to capture some on camera.

After the tour we all treated ourselves to a slap up dinner and quite a lot of red wine. Taryn, Emma, Chloe, Chris and I continued drinking at the hostel, to be paid for with hangovers the next day.

Chris’s Corner

With a good 100 pictures of the biggest ice cube I have ever seen, I was still lucky enough to be videoing at the point when a chunk fell off, definitely to the envy of others in the group. The evening of drinks was fun, but I had one eye on the alarm I had set for early the next day...

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Photos

Perito Moreno Glacier
Our first glimpse

Action Shot 1
A large chunk falling off the glacier.. the sequence of photos I took is about 10 or so long, but I've only added 3 for now

Action Shot 2
A large chunk falling off the glacier.. the sequence of photos I took is about 10 or so long, but I've only added 3 for now

Action Shot 3
A large chunk falling off the glacier.. the sequence of photos I took is about 10 or so long, but I've only added 3 for now

ISHII!!!!
There was a chunk of ice on board the ship we took to get a closer glimpse of the glacier, which we assume was glacier ice but could've been anything! Ishii had to have a taste, and we had to get a photo of Ishii on the blog. Legend!

Perito Moreno Glacier
View from the boat