so, where did you eat lunch today?

I had a picture on my wall at work for a while of a very special place. Gill and I found pictures of our dream destinations and put a window frame around them to give us a view at work instead of brilliant beige. Mine was a picture of the Perito Moreno glacier, outside of El Calafate, Argentina.

Today one of my longest standing dreams came true – I hiked on the glacier and saw several immense blocks of ice come crashing into the freezing lake water. It was so beautiful I had to cry and I rate it as wondrous as my Grand Canyon experience. It’s about as close as I can imagine to taking a peek into nirvana.

We drove out past estancias, through flat country that used to be occupied by the glacier many moons ago. On either side of the valley rise high bare mountains with barely any trees and a smattering of snow on the highest points. There’s a very distinct line where trees end and high rock, snow and ice begin.

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We get a pre-trek view of the southern side – that’s something I didn’t realise – it’s a two faced glacier, then we continued to the shore of the lake and boarded boats to cross to our trek starting point. I had donned just about all my clothes – 6 layers at least, including 2 scarves – in hindsight I could have done it with about 4 layers because the sunshine poured down all day, creating a blinding reflection off the glistening ice.

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We were tied into crampons and set off for almost 2 hours exploring and succeeding in not being blown off to our deaths. Diego, our guide, promised that if we didn’t walk with feet apart or dig our crampons in well and took a tumble, it was going to be too hard to get us out before we were crushed to death in the crevasses. He did say it with humour so no-one fled in fear and I even managed to not fall over – bonus!

I noticed the sounds first most of all. The wind howls through the forest on the mountainside and that constant rushing sound is all around. Rivulets of ice melt water making their way through water tunnels and sliding down the slopes run fast with the purest, freshest water I’ll ever taste. The crunching of crampons remind me of walking on glass – there’s the scrunch of weight bearing down on loose ice and then a tinkling as you lift your foot and they clink together.

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The surface is nothing like solid, it’s like a giant has made a gazillion (yes, that’s a real term) tonnes of ice cubes and then left them to the sun to melt the cubes loosely together and to the wind to create vast dunes and channels. From a distance it looks like blue and white meringue shards standing up on end, waiting to fall.

Scale is hard to describe as the surrounding landmarks are all huge too – the immense lake, sheer mountains and the brightest clear blue sky above. In our couple of hours it seemed like we advanced about as far towards the middle as a skirting board rises up a wall.

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The sides of the glacier are caught against the bedrock and move about 20-30cms per day, while in the fast lane down the middle it advances around 2mtrs a day. With this instability the cracks and pops and creaks are continual as ice is forced to ride up and over bedrock, it pushes and shoves like a crowd as a heavy metal concert…in very slow motion.

Towards the end of the hike we stopped to do the only civilised thing one can do when all that fresh ice is just begging for a glass – we were served a nip of Jameson’s Irish whiskey on the rocks and it was magic. This being Argentina, we were also served something chocolatey and severely over-processed to go with it.

By now I certainly had the hang of walking downhill – much harder than going up – and I made it off the glacier with no damage other than a ruby red nose – that sunshine hits from every angle!

Crampons off and it took a little while to stop walking like I was hiding drugs down my pants as we took a trip through the aged forest of beech and pine trees always looking back when I heard a groan and a creak to witness another iceberg calve and head out to the lake. Lunch at the entrance shelter may not make it into any gastronomical guides – myo ham, cheese and tomato rolls and an apple. It’s number one in the guide to the world’s most stunning picnic spots though and it doesn’t need Michelin stars to make for a supremely memorable meal.

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The boat ride across the front of the south face took us near some of the bergs and a condor – my first! – circled above us as we made our way back to the bus to continue to the main lookout area to get a better idea of the size and shape. Several raised catwalk walkways lead down to various balconies offering panoramic views down both the north and south sides and the point where the glacier runs into land again to stop its advance and cause rupture and rapture.

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Back in El Calafate, I walked down to Laguna Nimez hoping to catch the sunset and found a flock of pink flamingos which was lovely, and a lot of cloud which made the sunset not so lovely…maybe next time.

I met my three new (and all male) roommates. I’m sharing with a couple of Swedish hotties, Anton and Kenny, and Fabian from the north of Argentina near Iguassu Falls. My first mixed room…no chance of any fun but let a girl dream – just like I’ve dreamed of meeting Perito Moreno…I can tell you now dreams can come true!