Patagonia - El Calafate

This is without doubt the best experience of my life. Sunday March 6th was a pretty uneventful day. My roommate had left already for Patagonia, and my host family had left for the beach for the week. So it was just me in the apartment. It was the first time I'd been completely alone for over a month, and it was a really weird feeling. I had to leave at 5:00 am to catch a bus down to the airport for my 7:00 flight. So I had plenty of time to pack...I listened to music, ate, danced around my apartment, and then bored ate until about 1:30am when I decided it was best to start packing. I got on the bus and to the airport with no problem. But when I got my ticket they told me I couldn't check in yet because they didn't have the gate number for my plane. Turns out my flight wasn't until 8 and they weren't going to know my gate number until 7:00... So I ended up waiting/half falling asleep for two hours. Normally I would have Katie to keep me entertained, so in honor of her bought myself a Sudoku book. Thanks KT. 7:00 finally rolls around and I go to the correct gate number and then wait there another 2 hours since the flight was delayed. I learned on this trip that domestic flights in Argentina run on Argentina time as well. Always 1-2 hrs late. :) On the plane I met two people from Israel who had just finished three years in the army and were taking 5 months to travel. Throughout the entire week I probably meet 10+ people from Israel. South America is apparently a popular place to travel after the army.

So I arrived in El Calafate and shared a cab with my two new friends. Sadly I didn't see them again. I couldn't believe how fresh the air was and the gorgeous mountains with a light covering of snow. The surrounding area was beautiful. I hadn't realized how much I really missed the mountains and the not so busy cities. There was no bus system, no honking cars, and no sirens like in Buenos Aires. It was a very peacefull mountain village. I arrived at the hostel meeting up with Molly and Camille who had already been there for a day. They showed me around the village which took a whole 15 min. There is one main street with shops and excursion offices and that's about it. The city is very dependent on tourists, so there are many advertisements and specials for excursions. Before I arrived Molly and Camille did all the reasearch for the best deals and excursions offered. We had decided climbing on the glacier was one of our main priorities. So instead of doing lots of little excursions that were cheaper we went for one big one. Go big or go home right? For some reason while packing for Argentina I decided I wouldn't need my hiking boots, so I left them at home...in Woodinville. Luckily there were places to rent boots for $10 a day. After finalizing our plans we bought some wine and cheese/crackers and walked down to the lake for sunset.

Tuesday was when the real adventure began, we were doing the Big Ice excursion on Perito Moreno Glacier. At 7am a tour bus picked us up from our hostel and we were greeted by a very energetic man named Marcelo. He would speak in spanish and then in english. It was fun listening to the spanish first and being able to understand almost everything he said before he spoke in english. We picked up other people at different hostels around the city and then headed to the glacier. We met a few other guys who coincidentley are in the same program we are. And they had already been in Patagonia for 4 days so they were giving us all sorts of ideas for the week to come. The day I arrived it was clear blue skies and 70 degrees. But today we weren't so lucky. It was windy, rainy, and very cold. We first went to a board walk in the national park that circuited around the glacier showing both faces and the surface of the glacier. We were a little bummed about the lack of visibility but were still hopeful for the hiking later on in the day. The glacier is just massive! It's bigger than the entire city of Buenos Aires. Every once in awhile it calves, dropping huge chunks of ice into the water. And everytime it makes a thuderous roar. It's the coolest thing to watch. The glacier is the only one in the world not receeding. Scientists consider it at equilibrium which means even though it's losing ice, each winter it accumulates more to counteract it.  We walked around the boardwalk for about an hour taking all sorts of pictures. Molly and Camille decided they were tired of the rain and did some yoga sun salutations, hoping the sun would come out. And i'm not lying, 10 mins later it stopped raining, the sun started to come out and there was a rainbow. After about an hour we got back on the bus and headed to the ferry that would take us to the glacier. Here are some pictures from the board walk

We took a 15 min ferry to the base camp where we met all our guides and other members of the group. We were given the option of taking the tour in English or Spanish and were really tempted to go with the spansih group. But then decided if something went wrong, we wouldn't want to risk our lives...so we went with the english speaking group. We hiked for about an hour through the trees along side the glacier. It was just gorgeous and so massive you couldn't see where it ended. Once we reached the point on the glacier were we would start our trek, they gave us harnesses and crampons and off we went. The dynamic of our group was interesting. There was a couple from sweden on their honeymoon (which i thought was so cool), other college students, a guy asian couple, who would stay behing taking pictures and making out (the guides were getting annoyed because they would slow everybody down) and then others from France, California, Canada, and Brazil.

We trekked across the glacier for a few hours, over cravasses, through glacier streams, and up many glacier hills. When we walked over streams it was the weirdest feeling, because you could see the water moving but the top 2-3 inches was pure ice so we could still awalk over it without getting our feet wet. Then for lunch the took us to a lake in the middle of the entire glacier. It was gorgeous and the most pure water I had ever drank. It was crystal blue water, and so cold, it would give me a brain freeze only after 3 sips. The day had turned into a a great blue sky day. And even though we were on the glacier it was really warm. I ended up sheding most of my layers. As we ate our lunch we were talking to our guides (in spanish) and they were telling us all about their life in Calafate, how they became guides and so on. One of them was taking a liking to molly, so they started chating the rest of the trip. And when we'd go down something really steep no matter where he was in line he'd race to the front to help her down. It was really funny. We thought it was just an act but turns out he is acutally a really genuine guy. He even invited us to one of his friend's birthday party that night.

After lunch we walked on the glacier for another 2 hrs or so. They explained to us how the glacier is still "growing" and that the middle of the glacier moves about 2 meters a day. And the more blue the ice is, means it's more compact (more dense/more snow) and less oxygen in it. And that was our 4 hour adventure on the glacier. We then hiked back down to the ferry boat to take us back to our bus. It was so much fun but by the end we were just exhusted and as soon as we got back to our hostel we crashed.
Here are some pictures of the glacier

   

This was the hour long hike alongside the glacier

           

We at lunch at the lake

                                             

So our guide ema had invited us out to one of his friends birthday party. We were a little skeptical at first but decided why not, he seemed to be a very genuine guy. He told us he'd pick us up from our hostel at 10:00pm and we figured argentine time, so we'd be ready by 11. At 9:50 I just woke up from my nap and exactly at 10 he was outside our hostel. No one was ready. So he said no problem, i'll go home and then come back in a half hour. Three girls in one room trying to get ready in 30 min is more or less a shit show. But we got ready and once again exactly at 10:30 he was there. Molly had no worries at all, she was stoked to go, but Camille and I weren't really sure where we were going and wanted to make sure we had a way out if we wanted to leave the party for any reason. But as soon as we got in the car Ema said, "at anytime, if you guys want to leave, just let me know, and i'll drive you back." My worries had vanished. We had stopped along the way to pick up some artisanal beer from a local brewery to bring to the party and since the town is so small we got to his friends house 10 min later. 

Almost everyone there were guides or climbers and they were all very welcoming. The entire night was very light hearted and fun. There was a bond fire, homemade empanadas warming by the fire, loud music, low lit christmas lights, and little kids running around. Argentine culture is all about sharing and trying new things. So if someone brought wine or a litter of beer, it was never for them. They might have a glass but the rest was to share with whoever wanted it. Completely different when going to a party in the U.S. We talked in spanish all night, meeting all sorts of  people. At one point, one of his friends got everyone's attention so he could give the birthday boy a package of cold meat. And everyone started laughing. I'm not sure if this was an inside joke with their friends, or an Argentina thing but it was fun to be apart of. The starts were amazing too! Buenos Aires is too bright so I haven't been able to see the stars in awhile. I saw new constellations, like the southern cross. We had a great evening, hungout until 2:00 am and then headed back to our hostel.