Ice Ice Baby - Part 1

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The day started before dawn, at 7 am with the coach picking us up to go to Puerto Bandera, where our catamaran awaited us for a tour of the glaciers. It was a cold and blustery day, requiring us to wear thermals and several layers to feel warm. But at the end of the day, it was well worth it!

As the boat headed into Lago Argentino, we were lucky enough to catch the sunrise, albeit timid, behind the clouds. Then to tease us, we spotted a few small icebergs, many of them beached on the rocks. Having never seen an iceberg before, I was quite impressed already. Then as the lake slowly yielded some more of its secrets, we spotted some bigger ones, light blue in colour, floating peacefully in this huge lake surrounded by snow capped mountains. A bit of snow and sleet started coming down, but we decided to brave the weather and stay on the front deck of the boat. We entered the branch leading into the Glacier Upsalla, and it was a sight to behold. There were hundreds of massive floating blocks of ice in differing shades of turquoise and we close enough to nearly touch them. It was fabulous. Unfortunately, due to what the locals say is global warming, the Upsalla Glacier is receeding, a big chunk had broken off couple of weeks before, which meant that it was not safe for the boat to go further into the brazo, so we couldn´t see the glacier from up close.

We went into a couple of more brazos to see some other glaciers, and then the last one was Perito Moreno. To whet our appetite, they had been showing a film of the glacier, and its different "explosions" (i.e. huge pieces of ice falling off). The reality far surpassed what one may have seen on TV. At the risk of sounding poetic, words fail me to describe how impressive Perito Moreno is. It´s immense, there are crevasses of deep blue, with lighter peaks on top. AMAZING!

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