Our day started with a good bye breakfast with Mark in Rio Gallegos. Mark is taking a dirt road to the Moreno glacier and we've decided to take the asphalt highway to save time. We may see each other again in El Calafate but he's unsure of how many hours his route will take. The temperature is 7 degrees C., considerably warmer than the -1 degrees we had in Ushuaia but still requires us to wear layers of clothing to stay semi warm.
Lago Argentino, the largest fresh water lake in Argentina (1466 square kilometers) near El Calafate.
Glaciar Perito Moreno from a distance.
The glacier is 5 kilometers wide, 14 kilometers deep and 60 meters thick.
The glacier advances up to 2 meters per day and was "calving" during the time we were there.
Once again the photos of the glacier don't do it justice. We spent about 4 hours at the glacier, talking to other tourists and just looking at it in awe.
Back at the hostel the front desk clerk who spoke English and Spanish called a restaurant in Rio Gallogos for us to confirm they had Diana's Visa card. I'll admit to everyone that it was I, not Diana, who left the card at the restaurant. We've had some trouble accessing cash since Santiago, my debit card quit working and the bank said it hadn't been flagged. So many businesses here will only take cash so we had to transfer money to our credit cards and take cash advances for a week and a half until the debit card starting working again.
Mark drives up at 7:30 just as we are headed out the door for dinner, we help him pack his cases to the room before walking to the restaurant. While waiting for a seat at a popular restaurant we once again meet a couple from Buenos Aries. We first met them at the border crossing into Chile, then twice in Ushuaia, twice at gas stations on the return to Rio Gallegos, at the Argentina border and at the glacier. They don't speak English but we manage to have our usual conversation with them, sometimes with a little help from those around us who interpret the confusing parts.
great photos!!!
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