Calafate

We started off our trip in Calafate.  After a 3.5 hour plane flight from Buenos Aires, we landed in the middle of nowhere in Calafate and grabbed a cab to our hostel.  We got in around 7pm after the sun had already set so we didn't really get to see much of the town.  That night we just relaxed around the hostel because we had to wake up early on Saturday to head to Perito Moreno National Park to go glacier hiking.
The sunrise revealed a breathtaking view of the massive valley surrounded by snow-capped peaks that Calafate sits in.  We hopped on a bus and drove for about an hour to the park.  On the way we passed a big group of eagles huddled around some carcass on the side of the road, I have some pictures of them on my photo page.  We then took a boat down the lake to where the glacier was.  The guides gave us some instructions and background information on the glacier before we started our hike.  They said the part of the glacier we were hiking was 400 year old ice, and that the wall of the glacier on the lake was 55 meters, or 180 feet, tall in some places.  I hope that helps give some perspective on it, because it certainly doesn't look that big or cool in my pictures.  Then we headed to the crampon place, the place where we put on our crampons.
Once ready to go, our guides led us up and around tons of hills, ridges, crevices, and caves on the glacier.  It was really cool to see how jagged the whole surface of it was, and how almost everything is tinted blue.  Some crevices went down really deep until the ice was a dark navy blue.  The view from the glacier was also incredible with the lake behind it and tons of mountains all around.
Towards the end of the hike we came down into a basin area where the guides gave us some free snacks and whiskey.  The water from the glacier is extremely pure, so you can drink any water you find there, so we drank plenty of that too.  Afterward we went back to the crampon place to take them off, then went to a place where we could go underneath the edge of the glacier.  Everything was bright blue as we crawled around a bit, surrounded by cool shapes of ice with air pockets trapped inside.  We then hiked through the woods a bit back to the base where the boat was.  It took us back to the bus which then brought us to the other side of the lake which was separated by an ice bridge created by the glacier.  There were a ton of observation decks overlooking another absolutely massive glacier, so we sat there watching giant chunks of ice cleave off and make tremendous splashes and sounds very much like thunder.  It was awesome to see.
We headed back to the hostel that night and hung out with some friends we had made. There are several things that I loved about Patagonia in general: 1. Everybody is incredibly friendly 2. You can drink almost any water you find anywhere 3. There is never any stress 4. Everything smells fresh 5. There is no one place where there isn't a breathtaking view.  I could definitely understand why so many people we met had moved there after visiting it.
Sunday morning we headed to El Chalten.  That and more stories to come!  Click the link in the second paragraph to see pictures!