Glacier Trekking

You know that movie Elf when Will Ferrell is walking through the Arctic to get to New York City and he passes through lots of really random winter wonderland scenes? That was basically glacier trekking on el Glacial Perrito Moreno.

We started out by walking around el Lago Argentino; the glacier begins a kilometer or so from the lake's coast. Ice fell off the glacier and into the lake, sending giant waves in every direction. The sound of the water hitting against the ice ricocheted off the mountains creating nice background music as we took pictures with our American, German, Swedish and Argentinean flags.

We then took a boat to get to the base of the glacier. We strapped the grampons and off we went. Hiking on the glacier was one of the most spectacular things I've ever done. The puddles were a bright blue and the lake below looked like jade. I was sure that I would trip within five minutes, but I was actually able to keep my balance. At one point, we had to walk over a crack in the ice that was so large I found myself hopping from one foot to the other. At another part, our path was right through a narrow mini-waterfall; my shoes were sopping wet. The trek ended with alfajores and a glass of whiskey atop Perrito Moreno with views of Lago Argentino and the mountains around it. I looked at the other hikers; they were specks compared to the glacier. It looked like one of those Romantic "Man vs. Nature" paintings. With miles of the glacier still remaining behind me, I was pretty sure that, at least in Patagonia, nature won.