Since we had to be at the airport for our flight at 3:30am... I only got about two hours of sleep. We were exhausted by the time Sheridan, Sarah and I met at Las Heras y Pueyrredon to share a taxi to the domestic flights airport.
We got to the airport, drank a tea, befriended a kiosko worker (who then asked for our Facebook names...) and got to our gate.
This flight was actually terrible. The worst one yet.
I passed out right away, which I didn't even think was possible for me to fall asleep on a plane, with my neck in the worst position. Because I feel sleep I missed the food :( I was sitting in a window seat next to an older couple... Having to get out to pee was so annoying. Then like 30 min later I felt like I had to pee again; strenuously held that one in, though, until we landed.
Also, my ears hurt so bad from the altitude. Sheridan and Sarah said theirs hurt too so there was definitely something wrong with the airplane.
Another thing, it was so cold on the flight! I needed my long sleeve shirt, flannel and North Face and I was still cold.
Además, something was dripping on me from the ceiling... I was not impressed.
We landed 3 hours later in Calafate and took a booked van to our recommended hostel, America del Sur.
Our room wasn't ready yet but the receptionists told us to help ourselves with the breakfast that was still out.
The hostel is amazing. It has a compete view of the mountain range and a cool loft where I've if the receptionists came up to to explain the town and excursions. She was super nice and we could understand her Spanish perfectly.
We were thinking about doing the Mini Trekking excursion that cost 800 pesos but then she showed us pictures from an excursion called Big Ice. The pictures were so impressive we booked that one for 1,200 pesos.
We went to the super market after to get lunch and lunch for our excursion and explored town.
It was a beautiful tiny town with awesome views of snowy mountains everywhere. It was a little chilly but after walking around in the sun it warmed up.
We got back, made great pasta with sausage, lentils and peas and just talked.
By the time we were done chatting it was around 4:30 and we decided we needed a nap.
We set the alarm for 6 to watch the sunset behind the mountains though.... Jokes.
We slept right through that and vertically all the way until our 6am alarm. We got up once at 10 because my birth control alarm went off. We randomly got up, weirdly did some intense stretching, Sheridan showed, and a half hour later we got back into bed and slept till morning.... Great nights sleep.
Then we got up, got breakfast, and were picked up by our excursion van. We dove for probably 1.5-2 hours west toward Chile to a glacier called Perito Moreno.
On the way we stopped at an awesome viewpoint of a glacier that was 60 meters tall above the water and about 100 meters below sea. Our guide explained that the glacier was bigger than the city of Buenos Aires... Are you kidding me?? That's fucking enormous! Bigger than I could ever imagine. That was on the south side.
All of a sudden, I heard something like a gun fire then tons of loud rumbling. Turns out it was part of the glacier falling off. That kind of thing happened every 10 minutes or so.
So then went to the place where we were going to hike in the glacier (on the north side). We took a boat across the river and stopped at the "refugee" where we got our gives and into or groups.
We hiked for a bit, passing the Mini Trekking group to a right before we entered the glacier stop where we got our harnesses and crampons.
Then, we boarded the glacier. It was amazing. The Big Ice was a more intense hike on the glacier than Mini Trekking and I'm so glad we chose it. The views were beautiful and the delicate ice was such an experience to climb across.
We asked our two guides if there are accidents and they said not really. The ice is so thick even if there's water in top of it. There were lots of large cracks in the ice, some filled with water, some empty, that we had to cross over.
There were also rivers grooved into the ice with mini waterfalls. Also, we went through an ice cave! So cool!
Our total trek on the ice took about 3 hours and by that time, my feet and ankles were hurting me a bit because I was wearing running sneakers, not hiking shoes.
We hiked back to the boat with one of our guides, Luiz.
Once on the boat we each got a glass of whiskey and an alfajor! Such a nice end to the hike!
We went to Esquina Varela for dinner which is famous for their lamb so we had some yummy lamb stews and wine!
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