Road Trip

So many of you may wonder what we did for Jared’s birthday. Have no fear, it was something FUN! Well your curiosity may now be killed: he got a CAR (rented, of course) and we, with 3 other travelers (Jude, Cayley and Maaike) took a road trip to Los Glaciares National Park. There we saw one of the most amazing sights, Glaciar Perito Moreno and spent the day listening and watching the glacier crack and drop large chunks of ice. It was incredible!

Glaciar Perito Moreno is part of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, which is the world’s third largest ice field and fresh water reserve. It is also one of three glaciers in the Patagonia region that is not retreating. It grows daily up to about 6 feet. It is about 3 miles wide and extends more than 180 feet above the water.

While there, you have the opportunity to take boat rides in and around the glaciers, but we found it more fascinating to just walk along the walkways opposite the glacier, sit and watch the glacier fall for as long as we wanted. You are able to get so close! It’s nearly impossible to capture the size and color with the camera.

The whole time, we were constantly hearing thunderous cracks and you find yourself and everyone else looking around and whispering… “Did you see that? Where’s that coming from?” Often times, it’s simply ice moving inside the depths of the field. And, then, when you least expect it, you are surprised by a huge piece of ice falling off the face of the glacier, creating a loud roar, falling into the water and making a huge splash and finding its place in the lake below.

It truly is a beautiful ice field extending as far as you can see. It’s incredible to look out over the water and see nothing but ice for miles, crawling up to meet the mountains. While you won’t see beautiful pink roses and green grass growing in this field, but you will see the most dynamic array of blues, greens and whites. It’s so surreal that you think you are looking at a picture that had been photoshopped to enhance the colors. You see blue ice, almost florescent in color, at the top of the glacier and in between the cracks of the ice. And at the bottom, you find some of the oldest, most compressed and coldest of the ice a deep deep bluish green color, making it look almost rock-like and not like ice at all. Over time it just becomes more compacted from the heavy load it carries on top and penetrates the ice changing the color to that deeper bluish green color. Glaciar Perito Moreno is a must see if you’re in Patagonia.

Can you find the triple deck boat in the photo on the left?

After the park, we returned to town and had to fill the car up with gas. Unfortunately, the first station we pulled into informed us they had no gas. What?! We went to the other gas station at the opposite end of town and there was a mile long line. We decided to pass on filling it up and pay the fee.

When we went to drop it off, the agency was going to not only charge the increased rate, but also charge us for about 3 gallons more than we needed. So, we bit the bullet and pulled into the line and waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, an hour later, we finally had gas in the car and returned it – no problems.