Hey everyone! I know I'm getting WAY behind on these posts, so I'm going to do my best to catch up fast so that I don't forget anything! At the end of my last post we (and by that I mean 6 of the 9) had arrived in El Calafate and quickly crashed to sleep. The next morning found us waking up just in time to eat breakfast before it was put away. In typical Argentine fashion, breakfast was large white rolls with jam, dulce de leche, or butter. There was also coffe, tea, juice, and milk. After enjoying a roll, we briefly discussed what we wanted to do with the day. Still hopeful that our friends would be joining us shortly, we didn't make any extensive plans and instead resolved to relax, explore the town, and maybe go on a hike. I personally was still exhausted and went back to bed after breakfast. 3 hours later, at 1 in the afternoon I decided that it was far past time to get up. After a shower, and a quick check of my mail, I met up with the others in the 'living room' and checked my phone for messages... Much to my dismay, I had received a few texts from our long lost friends detailing their mess of transportation and current plans. Unfortunately they were not able to find any decent flights to El Calafate so had instead arranged to fly from Ushuaia to Bariloche and meet us there in a few days. This obviously meant that they were going to miss the wonderful adventures that we had planned and I was SUPER bummed! El Calafate was the place that most of them had been looking forward to the most and now they were going to miss it! Everyone was pretty bummed, but there wasn't anything we could do. So we settled in to planning our own activities. The rest of the afternoon was spent touring the town, walking to Lago Argentino (Argentinean Lake), and relaxing at the hostel. The views are absolutely spectacular since the hostel sits on a hill and I was quite content to sit in front of a large window working on my hw and reading for classes. The owners of the hostel had informed us that they would be preparing an asado that night and we were more than welcome to join them if we liked. We of course agreed and waited patiently as the absurd amount of meat cooked on the coals. While waiting we played a game of Clue - in Spanish! When dinner was ready, we all sat down together (like one giant family) and enjoyed a delicious meal! There was salad, bread, a "salsa" made from tomatoes and onions, and of course lots of different types/cuts of meat. My personal favorite is definitely the sausage. Its delicious! Especially as a sandwich with bread and the tomato/onion sauce. After dinner everyone split off to their own activities. I spent some time sitting on the couch with Louisa doing hw until I decided it was time to catch some zz's.
The next morning everyone was up early and full of excitement! This was the day we had all been waiting for: mini-trekking on Perito Moreno Glacier! By 9am it was slush/snowing outside and everyone was dressed (in multiple layers) ready to go. We'd made lunches to take and hopefully had everything we needed (extra batteries, memory cards, student Id's, etc). The bus finally arrive Argentine style 35 minutes late and by 11:30 we had arrived in the park! Our previous research had indicated that admittance for non-residents was a steep 60 pesos, but a friend at the hostel had said we should use our student Id's and get a discount, so we gave it a shot. Thanks Katie for the advice! Instead of 60, we only paid 6 pesos each! Once the bus had parked and given us instructions on what time to be back, we bundled up and piled out. It wasn't miserably cold, but the snow was coming down pretty thick in large bunches rather than flakes. The glacier was hardly visible down the hill and you could almost see the sinking enthusiasm. But we set out anyway down the path to the various viewing platforms. Everyone was trying to get a shot where you could see the glacier through the snow but at the same time we were all being cautious of taking pictures cause no one wanted to ruin their camera. About 45 minutes later when we had reached the halfway mark of our walk, the snow tapered off and we were able to see an AMAZING sight in front of us. There are hardly words to describe the beauty and majesty of Perito Moreno. Its vast expanse covers the entire valley to the mountains on either side and as it spills into the sea its towering white walls are more than imposing. It also gives off a very distinct and surreal blue glow that is unlike anything I have ever seen in my entire life. I was completely in awe. We all snapped photo after photo and walked slowly back along the landings to get different views of this amazing monstrosity. It truly is "impresionante" roughly the spanish equivalent of impressive...but better.
Cold and wet from the snow, we walked back to the parking lot and hid (illegally) under the roof of the gift shop/cafeteria to eat our lunch. Since we brought our own we weren't supposed to even eat outside under the eves, but it was snowing again and we couldn't eat on the bus. Everyone took a quick tour of the gift shop (more to warm up than to actually buy anything). Then it was back to the bus to go ice trekking!!! I honestly fell asleep on the drive and when we finally arrived at the shore it had almost stopped snowing. We bundled up again, piled out, and piled into a boat that would ferry us across to the other shore where we would climb the glacier! The ride went without incident and we heard some of the history and facts of the glacier (first in spanish, then in english). This being a very touristy place, there were guides who spoke both. When we got to the other side, we all elected to follow the spanish guide and marched to the refuge to leave any unnecessary belongings. Then it was off along the shore to the equipment station to put on the crampons. They felt pretty weird on my feet and I had to be careful to keep my feet farther apart than usual lest I crampon my foot instead of the ground... We began hiking up towards the glacier. Remembering the view I had of it earlier with huge spikes and cracks it seemed so imposing and unwelcoming. However up close it didn't seem quite as bad. Especially covered in a fresh layer of snow (which actually makes it slightly more dangerous since you can't always see the cracks). We hiked up onto the glacier and followed our guides over the hills and down into the valleys. It was amazing and still almost seems like a dream to me. Our guide showed us pools of clear blue water reaching down into the depths where the river beneath had melted the snow all the way up. The tunnels just go down and down so that you can't see the bottom as the blue becomes navy and then black. At one pool we actually drank the glacier water. Cold, crisp, and VERY fresh! Yum. We hiked on for about 1 1/2 hours before coming near to the end. Around the corner and down the hill we encountered a table covered with glasses and a bottle of whiskey. The guides served it up and along with an alfajor of course we all had whiskey on GLACIER rocks. Fun detail: whiskey is what the Argentineans say instead of cheese when you're taking pictures. As we climbed off the glacier it began to snow again. Everyone took off the crampons (man did my feet feel light) and hiked towards the woods.
Everyone was freezing and ready to be in a warmer, drier location, but when we got to the edge of the woods there were 2 bulls blocking our way...Our guide had to spend the better part of 15 minutes throwing rocks at them and trying to scare them away so that we could pass. After a short camina (walk) through the woods we were back to the refuge and most of us took advantage of a hot cup of cafe con leche to warm us up. Then when everyone was ready is was back to the boats and back to the bus. After a long (and not exceptionally warm) ride back into town, we were finally at the hostel once again. At this point everyone was exhausted, cold, wet, probably dehydrated, and some were possibly in the very early stages of hypothermia. I was completely down to just participate in the hostel dinner once again (which was salad, bread, mashed potatoes, and milenesa - essentially thin breaded and fried chicken), but some in the group had other thoughts, so 2 of us marched off to the store to procure vegetables and chicken for a stirfry. When we got back (having cheated and bought a bagged version - just add water) the others were starting to thaw. I hopped in the shower, super excited for the warm water and probably spent longer than necessary warming up under the spray. Dinner started without me, so I joined when I was dressed. Part way through dinner I could not seem to get my legs to stop shaking (dehydration likely) but finished dinner and went to get a big glass of water. Then I spent nearly an hour sitting in front of the fire to warm up and dry my hair. Wet hair + cold weather + exhausting day = not good on the system. It was nice to just sit and relax. I also got to talk more with our new friend Katie who is from Australia. I went to bed pretty early and was happy for the sleep.
The next morning we all started packing. Everyone had to be out of the rooms by 10am, but we could store our stuff at the hostel and hang out there all day until our bus left at 2:30. Some of us went back to the grocery store (apparently our 29 hour bus ride to Bariloche does not come with food) and bought fruit and cereals to snack on. We also bought some things to make our own version of granola/trail mix, because the pre-packaged kind was a little expensive. Then we relaxed at the hostel until it was time to transport everything to the bus station. El Calafate was amazing! I'm definitely enjoying the trip and learning a lot about myself and my friends along the way. Next stop...and final stop...Bariloche - home to famous chocolate and world renown views.
I hope everyone is doing well and I look forward to hearing what's going on in your lives.
All my love!
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