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+ Log & Blog December / Dec 17

 Progress log and blog report

17 DECEMBER 2005 - To one of the most stunning places on Earth

Sleep for some reason eluded me. Too much to eat at bed time? The excitement of seeing the Andes properly today? Or the news that the Westland was tilting to the side by about an inch and a half? Probably all the above. I got up to the alarm, had a hurried breakfast, which was the only bad thing about the hotel. Orange juice was cordial! The coffee was terrible. If you bought a cup it was good stuff though! I went down to Westland to check out this tilt – damaged suspension? Broken shock absorber? Damaged panard rod? Nope, the body was shifting its position on the chassis. The huge shaking it received had made the rear slip a little. Nothing to worry about, but there would be a lot of body work to do on her, when I can afford it… one day!

Julian’s insulin was waiting for him at the bus station, as hoped. So panic over there. He had only one day’s supply left!

Julian’s exhaust baffles gave up the ghost yesterday which gives the car the sound of rattling metal at low revs, but it was Ivor’s car’s turn to have a problem this morning. His electric cooling fan wouldn’t work, we guessed the bearing had gone and burned out the motor. Our 9am start turned into a post 11am start as the fan was taken out and put in the back and the front of the car put back together again. Ivor’s car suffers from overheating, but with a huge fan blocking the air flow, an oil cooler blocking more flow, a grill and badges on the grill – it was a wonder any air got through at all. This overheating could cause a problem later as we get nearer the equator.

having-fun-on-Ivors-car

Alan and Ivor worked on his car. Chris and I visited the local Cathedral, Parroquia Catedral Nuestra Senora de Lujan. Built in the late 1890s by the reverend Juan Bernabe, two brothers of the Salesian order, 4 Indians and 2 carpenters this was the first ‘big church’ of the area. The whole project was completed in 90 days! The building is timber with painted galvanised iron outer skin and the Cathedral is clearly well cared for. Three cleaners were polishing it when we entered and the inside is charming, all in pine brought from Tierra del Fuego and plain but elegant. At one time this little building was the biggest in Rio Gallegos.

The-tin-Cathedral

Inside-the-Cathedral

A trip to the Supermarket for car provisions and dusters for wiping wet windscreens, then back to see how they were doing. Time for a round of coffees and we were off, off to El Calafate. El Calafate is like Ushuaia, a very ‘in vogue’ town. Expensive and fashionable, but still quite small and charming, it is the centre for trekking for the area and in particular the place to stay to see the Moreno Glacier, which must be one of the most stunning sights in the world.

The road was fast, and by 4pm we were there hunting for a hotel. The first scared us off with prices in US dollars of over 200 per night. The next was the same but in Pesos and a very nice place it was too. The Hosteria Kalken. Lots of wood, nice rooms, fair restaurant and it had beer in stock, but no Internet.

We then set off on the 100km of mainly dirt roads to the glacier. By now the rain was just an intermittent drizzle and the sun was occasionally showing. On the winding road up to the mountains we saw large eagles, with white heads and wing tips, fish eagles we think. Then we caught the first glimpse of the glacier, a wall of ice on the water.

More-glacier

We drove as far as we could to the last car park and were immediately surrounded by children wanting their photo with the cars. A teacher shoed them away and then posed by the cars herself! Old walkways of more than a mile wound down to near the glacier edge, any nearer and there was the danger of being hit by splinters of ice as the wall crumbed at its edge in a series of mini explosions and crashed into the lake below. The experience was indescribable, so I will try anyway.

Causing-as-much-interest-as-the-glacier

Silence, a sharp crack echoes across the valley followed by a rumble and a splash as ice hits the water - but after you see it happen. The scale is so big the sound takes a while to travel to you. Silence, more cracking sounds. You find yourself almost holding your breath watching and waiting for the next chunk of ice to crash into the water. One huge piece, the size of a house, came crashing down into the water. The echoes and the waves ricocheted for over a minute. Needless to say we were in the wrong place to take a good photo of it! On top of all this the flowers and birds alone are worth looking at. All in all we spent a very pleasant few hours walking and watching this huge glacier. The Moreno is actually two glaciers coming together either side of a mountain and covers almost 260 square km. In the centre is rock, and the glacier slides over this, at either side is deep water and the ice is 180m deep under the water as it slips along the bottom of the lake. In the centre it advances almost 2m a day, and 40cm at the sides. Above ground the ice is 50 to 55m high. Periodically the ice cuts straight across the lake, damming the water flow and creating massive water pressure that eventually breaks through the wall of ice.

The-Marino-glacier

By now the weather had completely cleared, the sun was shining, the light was that lovely golden colour and the wind had gone. Just perfect. Eventually and reluctantly we headed back to the hotel. For me it was a web writing night, so room service and bed before 12. The others also had an early night, but tomorrow we all agreed on a late start 10am!
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