The Glaciar Perito Moreno

---

Today Kazuko is showing me what she saw in Bariloche while I was on the combi yesterday. This is the chocolate capital of Argentina however the best coco comes from Mexico. The idea is to go into as many chocolate shops as you can stand and sample. I will probably not sleep at all tonight. Stopped by a great museum that had some wall maps that knocked off my geographical socks. It also put some of the words I had heard about the native Argentineans into perspective. But the best display was a caricature of wet nurse Moreno guiding the diapered Teddy Roosevelt on his trip around here in 1913. I would have thought it the other way around as by this time Roosevelt was well established as a conservationist. We were on the road to the airport before we knew it and commandeered the coffee shop tables after check in to put all of us gazing out to the empty ramp waiting for our airplane to land. I got to sit on the right side of the airplane so had a wonderful view of the Andes as we flew south. Pulling into Calafate I could tell this was a little more remote than the northern Andes. The glaciers had done a job on the local flora so we felt like we were landing on Mars. The turquoise blue glacier water of Lago Argentino offsets this stark landscape. We get through the formalities and are ready for our hike into town for dinner by 7 or so as our hotel is on the outskirts.

Tomorrow is a long busy day so we need to stock up on lunch goodies but with our hotel this far from town we will have to carry our groceries to the restaurant. Well the local super uses boxes ala Costco. It was a challenge to find anyplace that would seat 11 but we finally found a pizza/burger place that was big enough to fit us in plus our stash of box lunches.

An early morning start got us to the star attraction for a full day of sensory overload. It was quite a sight seeing several condors hovering as we drove into a more forested landscape with the southern Andes as a backdrop. The Glaciar Perito Moreno is the only advancing glacier I have ever seen and it is worth the price of admission. The glaciers in Alaska that I became intimate with in my kayak journey to Glacier Bay a few years ago were all receding and as such were pretty dormant. This guy was strutting his stuff with explosions and other visceral noises every few minutes. Calving was apparent although I didn’t get a start to finish view of any one episode. This is rightfully the number one visitor destination in Argentina but it is hard on the ecosystem to put up with all this human activity. That said they do a pretty good job of herding us around to the various venues however if you come here in January/February you might not have as high an opinion. Some of our group decided to strap on some crampons for a glacier stroll but K and I opted for terra firma view. A great day with one of the world’s wonders.
Rumor has it that we are off on an all day combi ride tomorrow. K is not happy.

chau for now
danny

---

Comments

[Linda & Rich]

Mmmmmm!!
Chocolate and glaciers, two of my favorite things.