Heute hier, morgen dort

On November 10th 2004 we got up early and yet another beautiful day awaited us. Typical breakfast with tea, coffee and toast and then we were headed to the Perito Moreno Glacier. A lot of people tell me, that they have been to Glaciers and that it could not have been a big deal to see this one. Believe me, this one is the real deal. It is beautiful and exciting and loud and you can look at it for hours without getting tired of its view.

The Perito Moreno is around 5 km wide, has an average height of 60 meters, and advances at a speed of 1 to 2 m per day (around 700 m per year), but pieces of it fall at a rate that makes it appear static. Even though the depth at the lake is 170 m, the depth of the glacier 8 km into the mountain is over 700 m. The build-up/break-down cycle of the glacier is not regular and it might take from one year to a more than a decade.The glacier first ruptured in 1917, taking with him an ancient forest of arrayán trees. The last rupture occurred in March 2004.
Source: Wikipedia

We spend most of the day in the Nationa Park, we had lunch there and took a boat ride (not very exciting, but freezing cold, see picture) a little closer to the actual glacier. Late in the afternoon we took a small bus to a very remote little town (it is not even a town I'd say, just some houses, hostels and some shops) called El Chaltén. I am trying to remember what we did that night, but I guess we got there so late, that we went to bed soon. After all, we had a big walk coming up the next morning!