El Calafate – not as cold as you’d expect, but just as epic!
Mind-blowing, breathtaking and overwhelming are popular terms to describe ordinary occurrences, but in Argentine Patagonia they are simply unworthy statements to describe a gargantuan feat of the natural world. The Perito Moreno Glacier is indeed a sight to behold, and a site-to-be-cold… eh? eh?
The town is small but sweet. German influenced and reminiscent of a more humble ski resort, but the block of ice that shimmies along slowly and persistently beside it is effin’ huge, and about as humble as a millennial with an iPhone X and a few retweets. It is near impossible to stop looking at the damn thing, it is a perfect depiction of how incredible the world can be without human interference. A photo or a comment or a rumour will never truly do justice to this place, you simply have to be there.
The glacier itself is larger than the city of Buenos Aires (approx 250 km2) and has been that size since 1917; it is one of very few glaciers in the world that hasn’t been affected by climate change! Like a tortoise with severe agoraphobia, it edges nervously out towards the public only to collapse and retreat again, day in, day out.
Luckily for us we got to go under it as well as over it. On top was all light blues and whites, with a constant crunch underfoot; a reminder of what it was we were actually doing. Below was a royal blue and transparent crystal wonderland. The cold drips that run down your back matter not when you get to see life underneath a massive, frozen land. Walking on a glacier is quite the surreal experience, but what better way to bring you back to the everyday than a glass of whiskey with a shard of fresh, glacier ice inside. Cheers Argentina!
"You mean winter, as in Igloos and Eskimos and Penguins and ICE?"
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