Perito (Expert) Moreno Glaciar

Well before we had travelled to Argentina, we were hearing tall tales about the spectacular beauty of the Perito Moreno Glaciar, which was until a few years ago one of the world's few advancing glaciars. Friends informed us that the Perito Moreno was so beautiful its splendor would make us cry. Once we arrived in Argentina, everyone from our laundryman to random German hikers insisted that we absolutely had to see Perito Moreno. It's a pretty well-regarded chunk of ice, and we were looking forward to seeing it ourselves. The glaciar is named after Perito Moreno (and what isn't in this country?), although the man never saw it himself. Apparently he just missed discovering it, a feat that was left to a Chilean general who dubbed it the Bismarck Glaciar, a name which the Argentines apparently did not take to.

We spent the morning hanging out on boardwalks on the peninsula of land across from the glaciar, watching and listening for the frequent calving. Even though the position of the Perito Moreno has stabilized, the glaciar remains remarkable active, and very entertaining for the tourist.

After staring at the ice for a couple of hours, we took a boat across the Lago Argentino for a more intimate encounter with the glaciar, in the form of ice trekking across its surface. Glaciars are apparently not fetus-friendly locales, as I was only allowed to strap on crampons after promising on several occasions to several people that no, I was not pregnant. Our guide also informed us that the trip was not recommended for people with head problems.

We headed out onto the glaciar's vast crests and valleys with a mixed group of Argentines and foreigners, walking in between deep blue crevasses and sinkholes, past streams of cold meltwater running down into the Lago Argentino. We finished our trek with possibly the finest drink ever: a whiskey with glacial ice in a shallow glacial valley, which our guides poured with a liberal hand, reminding us that, after all, we didn't have anywhere to drive that afternoon.