March 26

(Ryan)

We actually arrive near 2:00am and have a flyer for a hostel right across the street from the bus station. It's a cold and dingy place with tiny rooms and after sleeping a while we find out how loud it is. Someone we had met in Bariloche recommended a place but when we go looking for it, it's nowhere near where he said it would be. By the time we get back it's too late to check out so we just stay. I go to work on the computer and Dan plays some cards. I guess I should say why we have come and it's to see a the huge Moreno Glacier. We have heard of a tour we can go on that lets us do a little trekking across the glacier so later that night we sign up to leave the following morning. 

March 27

The mini van pulls up to pick us up at our hostel just after 8am. We are both at least a little skeptical about the days tour. Having flashbacks to our jungle tour in Costa Rica and the more recent cave experience has made us apprehensive about tours in general but at least we should get  a good look at the glacier.

There isn't a stitch of pavement on the two hour trip so sleeping is out of the question. That's not to say that I wanted to. The scenery was unbelievable. We saw many condors and eagles along the way enjoying their breakfast on the road. And mountains in every direction.

A short way past the entrance to the National Park the van came around a corner and we saw the glacier in the distance. We were still near four miles from it's face but it's size was immense. As we got closer and closer we began to feel this might be one of the good tours. The van let us out about a mile from the glacier where we boarded a boat that would take us across the lake to the base of the glacier. The boat ride over was a good test of my cold weather gear which consisted of one long sleeve shirt, one fleece vest, one Hawaiian shirt and a thin shell. HooWee was it cold when that wind came up off the lake. I could have gone down below but I wanted to get the best look at the glacier that I could. It was huge! The chunks were so big it was hard to put it in scale but the face was reported to average near seven stories high. And that's just the tip of the iceberg, our guide said that the ice went down 350 feet to the bottom of the lake. When we reached the other side of the lake we heard what sounded like thunder. As we spun around we saw a hunk of glacier bigger than a house break off and fall into the lake with a huge splash. From there we were let to the base of the glacier and our guides strapped crampons to our shoes. Then we were all led up the ice and briefed on how to walk on ice. Up and down and over we went. It was a little slow for Dan and I so we brought up the rear and took little side treks seeing who could walk up the steepest hill or jump over the biggest cracks in the ice. After about an hour we were led up a gully and when we came around a corner there was a table with glasses. The guides quickly chipped off pristine chunks of ice and filled the glasses, then reached under the table and pulled out two huge bottles of whisky and began to fill he glasses. "Well...don't be shy." was all he had to say. Whisky on ice had a whole new meaning after that. (Oh the beauty of not being in the US sometimes! Lets see someone try that in the states. You'd have to beat the lawyers off.) From there we were safely escorted off the ice and back to their camp where we had lunch before getting back on the boat for a slow cruise by the face of the glacier. After disembarking the boat, the van brought us to a catwalk in the front of the glacier where we were given some time to take pictures. then back to the hostel. Well worn out I had a snack and climbed into bed for the night.