Glacial El Calafate Activities

So.. the bus to El Calafate... Was another stressor. Now the first bus issue with the reciprocity fee was my screw up. I accept that. But this one was not! I couldn't print my bus ticket at the hostel (no printer) and had been on other buses where they just took the electronic ticket no issues. Of course this company wouldn't and the man at the counter was extreeemely rude to me. I had enough time to go to the office that could print for me, only to find that their computer wouldn't let me open my email. There was literally nothing else I could do to print this stupid piece of paper. And that stupid man was still unwilling to accept the perfectly clear electronic ticket. I was.... Just a little bit annoyed. Especially when I said forget it and was in the middle of paying for a different bus company (as in my card was in the machine, processing a payment!), when the bus driver leans his head out and says "OK" and waves me over. I was able to cancel the other ticket in time and still get on my original bus, no thanks to the man behind the counter. The bus drivers acted like they were being so nice letting me on. To a bus with only about 5 other people on it. With my perfectly good ticket that I had already paid for. Now, I like having the reputation of a nice, polite Canadian when I travel. But I did not say thank-you to them and I was not particularly nice! And I was only too happy to walk away as fast as possible once we made it to El Calafate!!
Things looked up from here, I spent the evening with my hostel roommate, Severa from Italy. Then took a glacier trekking tour the next day. Perito Moreno was one of the coolest things I saw in Patagonia for sure! The bus ride and boat ride to the glacier were both beautiful! Y'all know how I feel about mountains!!

And the first views of the glacier weren't too shabby either...

Once we had our groups (by language), we walked closer to get our crampons on.

To start walking around on this huge glacier! With a surface area the same size as Buenos Aires! It was even more amazing, fun, beautiful, than I had originally expected. It is one of the most easily accessible glaciers, and is also stable in size (between the accumulation areas and percolation/melting areas), making it a big tourist attraction and great glacier for walking on..

We got up high enough for great views..

Through beautiful pools and peaks..

And unfortunately one place where someone leaned over to take a picture of the deep pools and dropped their phone into the freezing water! After my recent GoPro incident, I was feeling extra sympathetic! Despite their fishing expedition, the guides were unsuccessful at retrieving it..

We saw some rivers and deeper pools (where big pieces of dirt blown over have caused some places to melt faster). I held my phone eeeextra tight for this pic..

Then the fun part.. Drinking whiskey with glacial ice while standing on a glacier!

After having lunch and a boat ride back, we took a bus to the main lookout point for the glacier.

We could watch some pieces breaking off and crashing into the water below. I enjoyed standing there for awhile just taking in the magnitude of it. A highlight of my start in Argentina for sure!!

Though it was a quick trip to El Calafate, it was a good one!