Butterflies, Dogs, Wind, and Wine

In Iguazu, a butterfly landed on my hand and accompanied us the rest of the way to the most dangerous part of the falls (Devil's Throat). In El Calafate, a stray dog adopted us and accompanied us into town to the restaurant (well, at least until he started chasing the shiny wheels of each passing car). In El Chalten, we had only the howling wind and the rain by our side. And here in Mendoza, we have wine.

So, yes, where was I the last time I had internet access for more than five minutes? The Perito Moreno glacier in El Calafate, which was very impressive and not nearly as cold as I expected (in fact, I was a bit overdressed). First, they dropped us off at an area where we could walk around on the metal-constructed pathways and observe the glacier from various angles. It was incredible to me, how this glacier could spring up in the middle of nowhere, especially when the surrounding area wasn't as icy cold as I thought it should be.

Then we went to another area where we took a boat closer to the glacier and were each issued a set of crampons (kind of like ice picks) to strap on to our hiking boots. Our guide instructed us how to walk with the crampons - go uphill like a penguin and downhill like a monkey. We walked up, down, and around, and sometimes down through small narrow holes in the glacier that were slightly alarming. But we came out unscathed, and they served each of us a shot of whiskey to drink on the rocks (literally, that is).

That night we went to a popular parilla in town. We'd been to parillas before, but this one was a bit more intense - I ordered the lamb, and when a huge hunk of meat arrived on a grill, bones and all, my ex-vegetarian self had no idea how to deal with it. But I think I made out well in the end. It was really tasty, but I ate vegetarian for a couple days after that in an attempt to recover.

Soon we moved on to El Chalten, a four-hour bus ride away. El Chalten is quite remote; it was established only in 1985 to deal with the trekking (the only reason to go there) tourist industry quickly rising in the area. It only recently got the internet, and we noticed that acess was slow and spotty, and the power kept going out.

To be continued...