Perito Moreno Glacier...xmas eve

M 12.24.12

• Christmas Eve...our big glacier day!
• picked up by the tour company...and made the short drive over to Parque Nacional Los Glaciares
• the drive alone was quite the treat!

• we then loaded a boat to take us to the glacier mini-trekking spot

• first up-close glimpse

• got a little tutorial on the Perito Moreno glacier and its surroundings

• ...a few fun facts:
• one of Patagonia's only glaciers that is still growing
• ~97 square meters; 3 miles wide, 19 miles long, average height of 197 feet
• world's third largest fresh water reserve
• one of the Seven Natural Wonders of South America

• crampons on and ready to go!

• single-file line, up the glacier we go

• amazing color contrasts of white and blue

• one of our guides...Jake digged his hat

• ogling at all of the crevices, caves, and caverns

• testing out the fresh water

• our friendly guides...professional crampon-steep-slope-standers

• this whole Christmas Eve excursion was quite surreal...but things got real magical when they broke out the whiskey and pan dulce atop the glacier

note the Italians in the background...funny guys to have around

• have a feeling we'll always remember this xmas eve
• with crampons removed, we made our way through the forest, back to the little shelter to have lunch

• again, fascinated, this time the by the extreme differences in scenery and nature

• enjoying lunch with a view

Jake often wears his glasses like this...I think it's cute

• next up was a stop to enjoy some different look out points of the glacier

I know, annoying

• Jake kept trying to get video of chunks of the glacier falling in to the water...not sure if he ever got it

• again, another fantastic excursion...
• we got dropped off in town to order our extra-special-super-fancy-xmas eve-meal: pizza
• then back to our hotel to relax and celebrate...

• a quick bit about our hotel in Calafate...
• Terraza Coirones, was outside of the little downtown, which meant taxis in and out, but we actually ended up liking the quiet space and beautiful scenery, so it was ok that it wasn't in the center of town 
• hotel was nice, comfortable with a good breakfast included...didn't see many other guests though
• rooms could use some updating, but they were clean...
• we especially loved the upstairs common space for us (and only us) to use as our celebration space on Christmas Eve...

• we ate pizza and drank wine outside as the sun set
• we elfed ourselves and others
• we played Phase 10
• we ate sweets
• we Skyped family 
• we watched the rich neighbors near the lake shoot off fireworks at midnight
• it was glorious