Glaciers and Lamb

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Hi Blog Readers

Us again. You might think that we have better things to do than hang out in internet cafes - like maybe wrestling lamas - but we have 7 hours until our boat leaves for Puerto Montt and it is about 5 degrees outside.

We´ve spent the past three days in Argentina which we weren´t totally aware of when we left Puerto Natales but that was due to ignorance rather than a mistake. We headed off to the town of Calafate in Argentina the point from which you can visit the Perito Moreno Glacier (we thought it was in Chile you see!). It was a 6 hour journey across the boarder and the Patagonian desert and into the town. The journey was pretty smooth apart from about an hour in the middle along dirt roads. We were used to coaches hurtling along these sorts of roads but obviously our bus driver had shares in the company and didn´t want to get any scratches on the 8.6% of the coach he owned. He crawled along slowing to 1mph everytime we came to a cattle grid (they are pretty tricky customers them grids). Unfortunately the phrase book didn´t have the spanish for "do you want us to get out an push?" so we had to leave him to it.

Calafate is pretty much just a tourist town and has a pretty main street with plenty of places to dine, drink and buy trinkets of varying quality. We booked our Glacier tour and spent the afternoon chilling out with a spot of lunch. Not having realised we had gained an hour entering Argentina we were pleasantly surprised to find that after finishing our late lunch we only had 4 hours until tea time. Oh if life could always be this way!

WARNING: if you are a vegetarian skip to the next paragraph.
That evening was the experience of the crucified lamb. A Patagonian delicacy, they take a lamb, butterfly it, hang it on a metal cross and place it over a log fire to cook. It looks like a scene from Silence of the Lambs but tastes pretty good. Jon opted for that while Natalie went for the vegetarian pasta.

The next day was the glacier trip. A 2 hour drive across the countryside and then suddenly from around a bend in the road the Perito Moreno Glacier appeared. It is a pretty awesome sight - 60-70ft high wall of ice stretching across 1km and back as far as you can see. The glacier is one of the few that is not receding - i.e. melting quicker than it is being added to with snow - but not sure how long that will last. We took a boat trip up close to the ice, looking at the different shades of blue from the compressed snow, compressed many hundreds of years ago, which form the body of the ice field. We then viewed the ice from balconies overlooking the glacier. It was from the balcony that we saw a large piece of ice break off and fall into the lake with a large groan and a crack.

The disturbance from the falling ice caused a larger slab of ice, the size of a football pitch, which must have fallen off a da or so before, to shake and split in half. As it did the two giant halves did a roll over in the water like giant whales doing a roll and then settled down again. Something fantastic to see.

Back to Calafate and another carniverous outing for Jon, this time with some lovely Argentian beef and a glass of red wine.

Today we have returned to Puerto Natales to get onto the ferry up to Puerto Montt. We arrive there on Monday. Natalie insisted on referring to this element of the trip as a cruise. She saw the ship today and hasn´t mentioned the C-word since. At one point, seeing a fishing trawler in front of us, she started to cry. "We´re not on that are we Jonny?". She hadn´t seen the much larger but slightly rusty ferry to the left (portside) of it.

We have our own cabin - phew - and will get some supplies in (red wine and crisps) and we´ll be pretty set for our journey through the Fjords of Southern Chile.

Thanks for your comments and keep them coming.

Kate and Pete - we don´t have your email address - can you email us or send it on a comment.

Sorry no photos this time as left the cords on the Cruise Liner/Ferry/Tugboat.

Blog ya next week yeeeee land lubberrrrrrssssss...ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

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Comments

[Janelle Hopkins]

Crashing ice
Wow. Your journalistic talents are wonderful. I can visualise all you write about Jon. I know it is you writing not Natalie. That glacier experience sounds awsesome and that is not even a word I use. What a mix up with the DISTANCE. Never mind ... what wonderful experiences and memories. Love to all Mum and Dad

[Pat Pike]

Wed April 18th
How are things ? Hope you are both going strong and getting to the correct place at the correct time !! God bless you both Love Mum