Trifecta in Calafate!

Three excursions, one day! We are determined to eek out every last drop of adventure from this trip. We have only one full day here at Los Notros, so we made sure and filled the day.






Our first excursion was Glacier Trekking! It started with a boat trip around the front of the South Face of Perito Marino Glacier. We then made a short hike to the starting point and got strapped into crampons and instruction on glacier trekking 101. There were approximately 25 people in our group along with 4 guides. Once you get the hang of it (wide stance, kick the ice, bend your knees when going down) it really was a breeze, but also a fairly good workout. We some some amazing blue holes, undulations and crevasses. Carl got some really interesting photographs, both abstract and picturesque.

When we were nearing the end of the hike, we hiked up one more level and there was a wooden table set up and the guides proceeded to chip ice out of the glacier, then fill real "glass" glasses with glacier ice and Famous Grouse whiskey! It's so funny, when they take your picture for you instead of saying "cheese" they say "whiskey", I guess now we know why. They also gave us a lovely little chocolate cookie. What a hoot!

We finished the hike and then had lunch at the pagoda at the base of the glacier and watched as large chunks of ice broke off the glacier and fell into the lake. You can hear them coming, it is a loud "crack, crack, pop" cannon-like sound and then a "whoosh" and splash, there it goes. I think Carl was able to catch one or two on film and I think I got one on video, but we haven't reviewed everything yet.

Excursion number two was a boat trip to the North side of the Glacier. Carl definitely got some really amazing photographs here and again, we captured more ice breaking action. One of the funniest things I have seen was when the boat crew had to "lasso" icebergs and pull them out of the way so we could dock the boat. Seriously. This excursion had no physical effort other than the fact that it was pretty dang cold. The wind had picked up and the sun was behind the clouds a good part of the day.

Excursion number three was a trip to the Glacier Balconies, which are man made balconies that allow very easy viewing of the Glacier. However, there is an amazingly long series of stairs down to the balconies and then of course as the laws of gravity dictate, what goes down, must come up (or something like that). It was similar to spending about 45 minutes on the stair machine. But, it was beautiful and we loved it. We've met some very fun couples from Philadelphia and they were with us both on glacier trekking and the balconies.

We also met a couple of nice guys from New York. They are two "guy friends" and they are totally straight, but keep getting mistaken for a "couple". When they check in, the hotel has them as Mr. and Mrs. We had dinner with them last night and had a wonderful time with great stories and laughs - yes, I shared the "spinache empanada" story.

We also met a nice couple from LA and they and the New York guys had dinner with us and it was really enjoyable, and again, great stories. One of the best parts of traveling to other countries and experiencing strange and unique opportunities is the ability to meet new people. We have been blessed by this indeed. It's been a little bit hard for Carl to reach out to people, you know how shy he is......

Another post to follow - on to Torres del Paine tomorrow!

Adios!