CALAFATE CANINES!!!! (PIX)

The dogs are so amazing in Calafate! They are the freeish..friendliest..most healthy dogs we´ve seen in South America..or anywhere on our travels actually! There are no leash laws in El Calafate..the dogs roam free. It´s almost as if they´re ´owned´ by everyone. They are loved by all, and they love all (except the garbage truck driver!!) haha.

Here are some pics...we have heaps more of all shapes, colours and sizes (I couldn´t help it..they looked so adorable!) but they are truly the calafate canine´s aren´t they?

LAST GLACIER WATCH!

Waiting and watching Glaciar in the rain!







Day 311

El Calafate, Patagonia, Argentina

We´ve done a bit more reading about the Patagonian region..and there is so much to see..but we´ve only allowed this stop in El Calafate..and even though it only has a population of 8000 people i´m sure the place has swelled with at least triple with all the tourists here.

It´s a funny place..of all the places on earth that we´ve been..this is the most ´trek^ looking place i´ve seen. More so than in Machu Picchu or in Norway or anywhere...and it´s not just trail trek clothes..it´s snow and trail trek clothes.

By ¨trek looking¨, i mean, everyone is dressed in trekking gear! Colourful down feather and polar coats and travel pants with heaps of pockets and rugged trek shoes and mini back packs. People are dressed like this everywhere. Even at night. I´m not sure if that´s because night never falls here...or at least it doesn´t until after midnight! So everyone is dressed up in readiness for a trek or a walk or something trekkable!

Anyway..today..we decided to go Glacier Watching.

Perito Moreno glaciar watching .. for the day!

Check out this guy drinking Mate..waiting for the glaciar to ´do it´s thing´!!!!













This glaciar is so unique. It´s spectacular. It´s something to see and it´s worth the effort to get here! It has been declared a world natural heritage site by UNESCO..and being a dynamic glacier that never stops still..and is forever changing..it is the glacier to watch. And you can watch it all day and be excited.

So that´s precisely what we did today.

We caught the Cal bus 80km to Moreno to watch the face of the big white lady peel!

The only thing was...it was raining!

We adorned ourselves with our raincoats...(bought yet another poncho!) and just as we were climbing up onto the first ramp..we heard the first crack! And thunder!

It had been sunny during the morning..and it had been raining..so we knew we were in for some big peels. We hoped the sun and the rain made a difference. At first, we thought we´d missed it because people were oohing and arrhing...so we quickened our step to the best viewing point.

Because it was raining we didnt have to push and shove to get through the crowds. There wasn´t a monopoly on the piece of landing we wanted!

Whoohoo...

We heard another crack and thunder..and swirl into the Lago Argentino. Clicks of the camera. A big belly of ice jutting out looked ominous. More jagged bits looked like they were ready to crack off. Pieces seemed to balance precariously on the edge of the face. We wanted one of them to fall. Jokes abounded...where was the big piece of ice? A guy took a couple shot of Greg and i..and just as the camera was on....

We heard it.

BOOM......right in front of our eyes...

The big groaning belly of ice...lifted off in slow motion..right down the mountain side of the icecliff. We were witnessing a MASSIVE explosion of ice...just falling off the glaciar. So spectacular. We were in awe. Our camera was ready. We got the best series of photos!













Here´s one which doesn´t show the whole sequence..but can´t put all the up here..this computer is far too slow!

Wow....what a day to come.

And in the rain. With hardly any tourists. Perfect.

The huge slice of ice slushed into the lake causing what looked like a mini tidal wave! It would have been the height of the glaciar..60m high and about much bigger in width than in height..about 80m wide!

Imagine..a 60m X 80m iceberg crashing into the lake below! The roar was spectacular. It didn´t have any other icebergs to land on..so it was just purely splashing into the lake below creating the biggest roar and sending a huge wave surging over the rocks...

It actually pushed icebergs onto the rocks!

We waited while it rippled out the bay leaving a huge progressive arc...as it surged further out. We took a movie of this phenomenonal surge.

At 8pm we left the Perito Moreno Glacial area.

Extremely satisfied.

Arrived El Calafate 9.30pm

NB Saw more Dogs. And what was funny..was the barking that occured when the rubbish truck tried to take their thown out bags of dinner! The dogs seem to know that the rubbish trucks are there to collect bags of rubbish from the bins..so hilarious...