Antarctica and Patagonia 2016: Perito Moreno glacier in Glaciers National Park

(Reposted Feb 9th to correct spelling mistakes)
I have roped Kurt into helping with blog posts. Apparently he keeps a blog of sorts himself. Below is an edited version of the last 2 days, with some typos corrected and a few minor additions:

Friday February 5

Today we leave the picturesque Torres park and head for El Calafate. It's a long drive. Once we leave the Torres mountains behind it's back to the steppe. All flat and featureless. Hardly a tree to be seen. Just grass and clumps. There's the occasional house, usually surrounded by poplars which break the fierce Patagonian wind (not that we have had much wind). We see some gauchos driving sheep. Eventually we see the Andes. A never ending snow capped mountain range. Mt Fitzroy (aka El Chalten) is the tallest we can see.

We have lunch around the truck in the middle of nowhere. Then it's on to our hotel in El Calafate.

a delicious lunch in the middle of nowhere

with some hitch hikers across the road

and some gauchos in the distance

huge servings of Patagonian lamb for dinner

Saturday February 6

Today was another day of ice and vastness.

First a drive through the now familiar steppe with some moderate hills. A quick stop at an estancia where there was a very friendly guanaco (sized between a llama and an alpaca). Then on to the Los Glaciares national park where we went to the Perito Moreno glacier. This glacier feeds into Lake Argentine but where it ends there is a narrow section. On a regular basis the glacier moves forward enough to block off one section of the lake and stop the water from flowing between the two sections. At that stage it has two faces. The upper section of the lake is cut off and can no longer empty into the main lake so it rises. Currently it is 8 metres higher than the lower section. When the pressure gets too much the water creates a tunnel through the glacier and the upper lake drains into the lower one in three days. Apparently that's what everyone hangs out for.

For us the upper lake was blocked and we saw two glacier faces. Each about 50 metres high and the total length about five kilometres. First we took a boat trip to the southern face. It's enormous and cold and interesting. After a while a piece broke off. A cracking noise, then the falling ice and then a mini tsunami. Really impressive.

Back to shore and a drive around to the northern side where there are boardwalks all along the five kilometres where you get up really close and see the little boat against the high ice walls. One end of the glacier ends on the opposite mountain wall where sizable trees are growing. We are at 200 to 300 metres above sea level. Trees all around. And a huge glacier in the middle. It's just unbelievable. How does this large hunk of ice not melt in the warm sunshine we are in. It just doesn't seem to fit together but it's there so it must be real!