Perito Moreno

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Another gorgeous day in Patagonia! We were allowed to sleep in a little later today, and then the bus actually froze, so we were delayed another hour. We finally got going on our long drive towards Perito Moreno glacier, one of the most famous in the world. It's easily accessible, you can trek on it, and every few years (last in 2012), it freezes across its branch of the lake. When this happens, the water digs a tunnel through it to keep the flow going. The tunnel expands until its supports are too weak and it collapses under its own weight. Apparently it's an incredible sight, but it was not the case this year.

We were taken near the glacier on a boat trip first, where we got to get up close and personal with it, like the ones yesterday. After the boat trip, though, we got another cool opportunity: the glacier is across from a hill. At the top of the hill, a bunch of catwalks were built to see it better from above, so we went and hiked those for a while.

The glacier is moving about 2 meters a day in the middle, and about 20 cm on the sides (because friction). It's the only glacier in the park that is not receding - although they don't know why. It was quite impressive to look down on from above, and again, pictures are better than words!

When we got back to the hotel, a few people went in and explored El Calafate a bit. It's a small town, about 30,000 people, but with a lot of stray, very friendly dogs. We met 3 - Jorge, Baby, and Slick - and they all followed us around for the day, including hanging out at the hotel. We gave them blankets we'd brought for the dogs at the shelter, and some food. One group also found a puppy we called Alfa, who was brought to the shelter to be taken care of and hopefully adopted. She was absolutely adorable, and I get to see her again tomorrow when I help out at the shelter's adoption day!

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