I paid a fortune, but the coolest thing I did down here (the only thing actually) was stomp around on the Perito Moreno glacier for 3 hours. And it was not easy at all!! Got up to start my day at 7am, and hopped onto a bus that took us to the boat that would take us to the glacier. But we stopped off at the national park first to get some photos of the glacier from a distance. After that, we hopped on a boat and got to the zone of no pollution where the glacier was. That basically means any trash we bring onto the island leaves with us, and no smoking allowed!
I got fitted from crampons (yes, crampons) which are what you wear on your shoes so you can walk on the ice properly. They didn't seem to fit right, but the guy seemed to know what he was doing when I said something so I figured it was all good. Then we basically hiked up a mountain for 45 minutes and I was basically dying because who can walk up hill for that long!? It wasn't even a steady grade..this was like 60 degree climbing and at a really brisk pace. I had lots of layers on thinking glacier = cold, but I was so wrong. I was hiking on this plush green mountain while I stared down onto a glacier. It was unreal, and sweaty. By the time we stopped to give me enough time to take some layers off, we were basically at the glacier so I left them on.
We therw our crampons on and got to stepping/stomping on the glacier and of course, within 5 minutes, something is wrong with my set, and I fall way behind my group and hold them up for 10 minutes while one of the guides tries to fix it. But it was so not my fault. Basically there was no fixing it, and unless I wanted to hike back down the mountain to do the smaller glacier trek, I was shit out of luck. So I just sucked it up and stomped around that glacier for 3 hours, walking up and down hills (bc the tour guides seemed to want to just waste our time on the glacier..why we had to go up and down constantly was beyond me--why couldn't we just go around those hills?). My knee killed, but it was SWEET!!! OMG, I was on a glacier!! Not just any glacier, one of the only glaciers in the world that is still growing!! COOL!! Pretty much one of the most amazing things I will have done on this trip. And at least I got to see a glacier before it melted so much that it causes Maldives to become flooded and sink below sea level. There was even a mountain in the distance called Lion's Head, bc. you guessed it! It looks exactly like a lion's head. Nature at it's best.
Besides seeing the amazing glacier and some flamingos (who knew they were in Patagonia?) I did some chocolate eating and I met some really fun people. Met some Irish brothers on my shuttle who ended up stopping by my hostel just to hang out bc they knew I was traveling solo. So considerate! Then I randomly ran into a girl who I had seen at my first hostel in Salvador, Brazil, and after staring at her for a really long time, I finally remembered where I had seen her, and basically made myself out to be a little stalkery when I met her, but now we're super good friends! haha. We are actually going to head over to Chile together to go trekking for 5 days at the Torres del Paine. I am not sure what that entails, but I am pretty sure it should be fun. Keeping my fingers crossed!!
I got fitted from crampons (yes, crampons) which are what you wear on your shoes so you can walk on the ice properly. They didn't seem to fit right, but the guy seemed to know what he was doing when I said something so I figured it was all good. Then we basically hiked up a mountain for 45 minutes and I was basically dying because who can walk up hill for that long!? It wasn't even a steady grade..this was like 60 degree climbing and at a really brisk pace. I had lots of layers on thinking glacier = cold, but I was so wrong. I was hiking on this plush green mountain while I stared down onto a glacier. It was unreal, and sweaty. By the time we stopped to give me enough time to take some layers off, we were basically at the glacier so I left them on.
We therw our crampons on and got to stepping/stomping on the glacier and of course, within 5 minutes, something is wrong with my set, and I fall way behind my group and hold them up for 10 minutes while one of the guides tries to fix it. But it was so not my fault. Basically there was no fixing it, and unless I wanted to hike back down the mountain to do the smaller glacier trek, I was shit out of luck. So I just sucked it up and stomped around that glacier for 3 hours, walking up and down hills (bc the tour guides seemed to want to just waste our time on the glacier..why we had to go up and down constantly was beyond me--why couldn't we just go around those hills?). My knee killed, but it was SWEET!!! OMG, I was on a glacier!! Not just any glacier, one of the only glaciers in the world that is still growing!! COOL!! Pretty much one of the most amazing things I will have done on this trip. And at least I got to see a glacier before it melted so much that it causes Maldives to become flooded and sink below sea level. There was even a mountain in the distance called Lion's Head, bc. you guessed it! It looks exactly like a lion's head. Nature at it's best.
Besides seeing the amazing glacier and some flamingos (who knew they were in Patagonia?) I did some chocolate eating and I met some really fun people. Met some Irish brothers on my shuttle who ended up stopping by my hostel just to hang out bc they knew I was traveling solo. So considerate! Then I randomly ran into a girl who I had seen at my first hostel in Salvador, Brazil, and after staring at her for a really long time, I finally remembered where I had seen her, and basically made myself out to be a little stalkery when I met her, but now we're super good friends! haha. We are actually going to head over to Chile together to go trekking for 5 days at the Torres del Paine. I am not sure what that entails, but I am pretty sure it should be fun. Keeping my fingers crossed!!
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