Hiking on a glacier - much more fun than expected

Friday, January 01, 2016
El Calafate, Patagonia, Argentina
Thu Dec 31
-ahhhh . A needed rest day to ring out 2015. We slept in until almost 9 and then went down for a leisurely bfast. The idea of a short morning hike was quickly scratched and instead we packed our bags and tried to send final emails over the incredibly slow internet. 
-our car arrived at 10:30 and we off to El Calafate. On the way we stopped at a hotel were butch Cassidy and Sundance spent a month. Worthy of a photo. 
-we checked into our hotel and enjoyed a leisurely hour waiting for an riding from a guide. We were enjoying the slow day. The guide came and told us about our final activity: a glacier hike
-after the briefing we went out and found a yummy rotisserie with good empanadas. We also scouted the local gelato places. 
-we went back to the hotel so Finn could lounge. I explored the town on my own and then went back and grabbed Finn for the promised gelato. An excellent rest day
-after some ping pong and chess, we went to bed relatively early for New Years Eve and slept soundly through any revelries that may have been happening

Fri Jan 1, 2016
-Happy New Year!!!
-we started the new year on the early side as we were scheduled to be picked up at 8 . I was skeptical about a big group activity and the late bus full of people seemed to confirm my suspicions. 
-however once we got into the park, we broke off from the group and went to explore the balconies overlooking the Petito Moreno glacier. At first we were snobby stating "we saw bigger glaciers than this in Antarctica."  While true, we had never been this close to hear the cracking, creaking and thunderous splashes as the glacier calved. It was really cool. And the fact that we had left the group early or perhaps because it was New Years meant that we had many of the balconies to ourselves. It was definitely more spectacular than I had expected
-after exploring around and getting a sandwich for lunch we boarded the bus and then the boat. Again it was a little commercial but so be it. We landed and were divided into groups of English speakers and non English speakers. 
-our English speaking guide Walter had a great sense of humor and it was clear that we should stay in his group. He immediately bonded with Finn and kept him at the front of the group whether for commeraderie or fun or control. Finn was happy to b at the front of the group. 
-we learned how to penguin walk up hill and how to walk parallel downhill. It was great fun. R
-we stopped to refill our water bottles. Again an amazing thing to me but I now understand glacier fed water of streams. 
-we also stopped to view an ice cave. We had a great picture there. Descending was interesting and fun . going down with crampons is both a dance and an art. Fun. Finn just hopped his way down and also punctured a slice in his pants. 
-the glacier was way more fun than we expected. What a fun experience for us and so good compared to the commercial experience that we expected. So fun. 
-we returned home and had our usual dinner of empanadas. We played chess and pong and celebrated the new year and our trip. Tomorrow we journey home.  
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