It’s official: my mind is completely blown by what we saw Sunday.
I’m 67 and I’d never before seen icebergs. They blew my mind and I just stood on the tour boat deck and stared.
They sit in the water like islands and the gray dark day allowed them to glow bright blue like nothing you’ve seen in nature.
We met a couple from Atlanta on the boat and I remarked they looked like those shaved ices with that blue flavor you can get on them. She was kind enough to agree.
We were all swiveling this way and that taking pictures and the more technically advanced among us were also making videos of these stationary sculpted lumps of ice.
This iceberg was in front of one of the glaciers we saw on this eight hour tour:
Glacier, bergy bits and ice bergs. All this on Lake Argentino near the town of El Calafate.
It was by turns wet and windy and cold and gray and occasionally slightly sunny. Layne wanted more sunshine but I enjoyed the threatening black overcast which highlighted the blue and gave us a dramatic backdrop. It was immensely satisfying.
The day started early as we had to drop off Rusty at doggie day care for the day. He was fine but I was a wreck feeling like we were abandoning him. Later I felt terribly guilty as I enjoyed an astonishing day on the water.
El Calafate was mostly asleep with a few tour buses and taxis on the streets hauling tourists to various tours. The place reminded me a bit of Moab, a town defined by the outdoor activities that surround it, while El Calafate doesn’t look like Utah it is very desert-like in the surrounding countryside.
It has a fearsome reputation for being monstrously expensive and we chose to eat at home. Our tour however was the luxury gourmet trip which cost about $700 for both of us so we didn’t skimp there.
The boat dock was 45 minutes up the lake from El Calafate basically at the interesting, fjord-like end of the lake.
First we had to buy national park tickets at $45 each at the park booth which was pretty chintzy. They had one employee and no shelter as we shuffled around watching the process slowly issue each of us a park ticket. In the rain and the wind. Brilliant organization.
We traveled on the turquoise catamaran and Layne had reserved our space in the gourmet cruise lounge at the rear. We had a private sitting area for twelve of us with our own toilet and deck, along with lunch served with endless generous pours of wine.
The forecast had called for winds to 60 mph but however windy it did get they weren’t put off and we left on schedule. Most of the journey was in protected waters but there were a couple of stretches we had to mind our balance and hang on to our wineglasses. That could have been tragic.
There was one stop at a pioneer house in a beach. Argentina encouraged migration a hundred and fifty years ago then changed their mind in 1937 when this area was turned into a national park. They paid the settlers to leave but their cows stayed and flourished leaving the government to figure out how to pay to catch and remove them. We saw no cows but apparently they are a problem.
We stayed aboard having coffee and cookies out of the rain.
There are icebergs everywhere here floating around.
First class lounge.
We were at a table with an Italian couple on the right and the couple from Atlanta on the left. It was a great party and we had a lot of laughs. The Brazilians, below, were friendly enough but they were on their own trip.
Our guide showed us a chunk of prehistoric ice.
Everyone had to hold it.
Apparently it was cold enough that I didn’t need to hold it, thanks.
Corn soup to start. Delicious. I forgot to photograph the pistachio crusted lamb but I blame the Malbec which kept getting poured.
Luckily Layne remembered to that:
A great lunch underway.
I remembered to photograph the ice cream dessert. Well done me.
Icebergs and glaciers u til four pm and then they drive us home, flutes of champagne in hand.
I napped most of the way back after the ice vanished astern.
Quick, back to my dog. He gave me a kiss, walked past me to GANNET2 and jumped aboard. No drama. Bloody dog.
