As we approach the Perito Moreno glacier the flat steppe gives way to the snow-covered mountains which give rise to the glacier. For me there is an extra magic to this trip as I was first taught about Pampas, gauchos and glaciers rather randomly as an impressionable 11 year old in my first year of high school. And suddenly there it is, a wide river of ice flowing down between snowy mountains on each side into the milky blue lake. A boat takes us to a few hundred meters from the cracked and pitted wall of ice 50 metres high, blue and white, with a surface like peaks of meringue.

Metal walkways are built on the side of the lake facing the length of the glacier face. It is advancing at 2 meters a day which puts it under constant strain. The most impressive aspect is the noise, creaks, groans, cracks, a noise like a gunshot followed by a boom and splash as a chunk of ice falls off the face into the lake. She teases Martin who is poised with his camera to catch a breakaway and each time we decide to move on, the minute we look away, crack, boom, splash!

We are caught out also by the weather, dressed in thermal layers against the expected glacial wind, cold, even snow, we boil in the unusually hot sunshine, blue skies with not a breath of the famous Patagonian wind.