El Chalten & Perito Moreno, Argentina

So the pictures are out of order, but I will label them for you... Glacier Perito Moreno are the first five pics

Here obviously starts El Chalten...

Fitz Roy through the clouds with a little sun peaking through





The View of Fitz Roy as we were leaving town...

I was able to catch this picture of a hawk when the bus driver grudgingly stopped to let us take pictures :) Thank you mister bus driver!

EL CHALTEN & CERRO FITZ ROY

El Chalten, Argentina only exists according to Argentina (maps in Chile show an empty space where it is supposed to be). It was a town thrown together literally in 1985 because Chile and Argentina have long disputed the actual border in the Southern region of their countries. Cerro Fitz Roy is the tallest peak in Patagonia and so Argentina decided to slap a town together there to reap the tourism benefits first and it has worked out quite well for them. It has grown a lot since Tony was there 3ish years ago. Some of the streets are paved now and there are a lot more businesses.

We arrived at around 10 PM and it was raining... we set our tent up in the rain, cooked in the rain, and went to bed with the intention of waking up early to see the sunrise on Cerro Fitz Roy. But we awoke to rain yet again! The mountains which are spectacular were covered in clouds and we couldn´t see a damn thing... so we slept in and headed out in the afternoon to hike anyway just in case the weather cleared. We hiked to a lookout and to a glacier and it the weather cleared enough to see the mountains briefly through a heavy layer of mist and clouds, but we were happy with what we got. We only had a day and a half to be there, so we hiked as much as we could, but the real treat was actually the drive out of town. We headed to El Calafate in the afternoon and the mountains opened up and we got amazing views of the gorgeous peaks that make the town of El Chalten and we were content...

We spent one night in El Calafate which we spent with our Brazilian friend named Vanessa. We met her on the bus ride from Ushuaia where we had to wait 7 hours at the Strait of Magellen and then again on the bust to El Chalten, so we were quickly becoming great bus buddies. We invited Vanessa over to our campsite for dinner, she is absolutely great and she has learned all her english from TV and movies, so she says the funniest things!

GLACIER PERITO MORENO

We got up early the next morning to head out to the Perito Moreno Glacier outside of El Calafate. The bus left at 7:30 in the morning and arrived back at 5 PM. We had a bus scheduled for 5 PM to take us to Puerto Natales (Chile). Yes we know, a tight squeeze... we were nervous. But thanks to Vanessa who was also traveling to Puerto Natales, she held the bus until we arrived a mere 4 minutes late! Thanks Vanessa!

But back to Perito Moreno.... WOW what an amazing trip. It was five hours in front of an enormous glaciel field. There are no trails except some metal boardwalks that go up close to the glacier. You think 5 hours is too much to spend looking at the same thing? We thought maybe, but no way we could have stayed there for days watching it! It is very active, it is growing and pushing forward daily and about 2 meters of ice fall from the front of it each day. We were able to see at least three major ice falls and we caught some on video. As well you can hear the loud popping and cracking from deep in the crevasses. As is the nature of a glacier, they grow and melt and help regulate the temperature on earth (Al Gore explains this a lot better than me:) But, while we were enamored with this glacier we also were faced with a very clear sign that global warming is a fact. This glacier should not be so active. So while we humans use this environmental wonder for our own entertainment we should continue to work on ways to stop unnecessary damage to our world. hmmm... tough things to think about, but important.

As I said before we arrived in the nick of time to catch our bus to Puerto Natales, Chile. We got to a warm, friendly hostal and got a good nights rest and headed out the next day for our last major outdoor adventure to Nacional Parque Torres del Paine.... stay tuned!