El Calafate

There's only one reason people make the long pilgrimage all the way down south to El Calafate... 'Glacier Perito Moreno'. It's fair to say that considering the amount of time and money we invested in getting all the way down here, our expectations were pretty high. We were not disappointed!

Up at dawn and sharing the pain of the bitter cold with those back home, we set off to the 'Parque Nacional Los Glaciares'. On route the long winding road meandered around the edge of the milky lakes that are filled with glacial melt water. The valleys, originally carved out by the numerous glaciers millions of years ago, were stunning! Teased with a slight glimpse of 'Perito Moreno' with every bend in the road, you could feel the anticipation from everyone on the bus.

When we finally arrived we were completely mesmerised! Neither of us have ever witnessed a glacier up close, let alone the 3rd biggest in the world. As we made our way down the walkway to the viewing point, a truly hair raising moment occurred for both of us! A crack that sounded like the loudest thunder you'd ever hear ripped through the air. Immediately it was followed by an enormous roar as a piece of glacier the size of a house broke away and crashed into the water! It was unreal. A spellbinding reminder that the natural world will always be boss and that we make believe that we are in charge!

Unfortunately the weather wasn't that great at first. We could only see the face of the glacier. Lucky for us the bus company leaves you there for 7 hours (an hour would have been enough to be honest!) and in the afternoon it cleared up leaving us awestruck at the sheer size of it rolling up into the Andes. It's face is about 5km wide and 60 metres thick. It covers 95km square, and is 14km long! Our crappy camera really doesn't do it justice but check out the pictures. We have also uploaded a video of a piece breaking off but, again, it doesn't do it justice (there's also some more videos from Bariloche etc as well).

The town itself had it's charms but, in truth, it was a poor man's Bariloche. Even McDonald's doesn't make it down this far. They do have a McDaniel's though which has blue instead of 'Golden Arches'. I wasn't allowed to try it.... I wonder who their mascot is? Ronadlo McDaniel?... (That's poor sorry)

We will be moving around a bit more frequently over the next few weeks. So for a little while you're gonna have to put up with some shorter, sharper, more frequent blogging. Off to the remote town of 'El Chalten' next...

Harry & Nicola

Copa Del Sh*thead Scoreboard: NH 92 - 101 HF

PS. A Canadian girl taught us a really good card game, 'Crazy 8 Countdown'. Look forward to sharing it when we are back!