Petito Moreno glacier

We headed back to El Calafate by van, past herds of sheep and Hereford cattle originally brought here by the English settlers, after a genocide of the natives of Patagonia.  Immigrants were offered free land to settle here, and the history goes back only about 150 years.

The next day we had a handsome guide Alejandro, who led us to the marshes outside the city to see the flamingos and black swans there.  The black swans are the symbol uses for 50 years of marriage here, since they mate for life and if one dies or is killed, the other stops eating and dies also.  Some other types of birds here have a much more colourful male than female, so that predators see it first to save the more valuable female.

 We drove to the Petito Moreno glacier, where we got on a boat to take us close to the massive face of the glacier.  This is truly awe-inspiring, the crowded boat is dwarfed by the glacier.  The view changes as you watch, with the light changing the colours of blue.

After the boat we walked to viewing points, hoping to see a big calving, where huge chunks of glacier fall into the lagoon beneath.  We didn’t see anything huge, but could hear thundering noises from the other sides and interior of the glacier.  Petito Moreno is one of the only glaciers in the world that is in a state of equilibrium, gaining as much as it is losing.

A couple of us stopped at the Glacierium museum just outside the town, with an ice bar where you pay an entry for half an hour, then drink as much as you want while inside.  However one bartender for dozens of people makes for only two drinks!  You are given a silver poncho with hood, and silver mitts to hold the drinks (campari and orange, a local favourite, for me) while sitting on ice couches or thrones and admiring the ice carvings.  While waiting for the shuttle to town, we tried a little pie filled with owl.  Tastes like chicken.

On to Chile and the small town of Puerto Natales, setting off point for the Torres del Paine national park.  We are doing highlights of the famed W trek, in the shape of a W, missing parts where we would have to carry our own tents and sleeping bags, but still getting to the see the sights.  It’s gonna be hard enough work!