Sabbatikos

Saturday was going to be our last full day in Patagonia and we debated what to do. The forecast was for rain, wind, and cold temperatures. A 10-hour hike to the “Base of the Towers” could be miserable and result in seeing nothing. Whereas a trip to the Grey Glacier would only be a half-day excursion. One of the tour guides gave us some good advice which swayed us to consensus: “The Towers aren’t going anywhere, but the Grey Glacier is receding rapidly. You can always return to see the Towers, but the glacier may soon be lost to us.”

Clara and I decided we’d wake up early to do a couple of local hikes around Patagonia Camp in the morning. We’d then do the half day trip to the Grey Glacier in the afternoon to make the most of our day.

Our alarm woke us to fierce winds, driving rain, and near freezing temperatures. But the yurt was cozy. We decided we’d shorten our local hike, hit the snooze button, and went back to sleep for an hour.

The weather in Patagonia is ever changing. An hour later the sun was up, the sky was clearing, and we enjoyed a short three mile round trip hike from Patagonia camp to the Toro’s Waterfall, and a few side trails to varied lakes, ponds and streams.

As we walked back from Toro’s Waterfall another storm swept in and we got caught in it prior to returning to camp. However, we had plenty of time to dry off, change clothes, and have lunch before heading to Grey Glacier.

We drove about an hour and a half to Hotel Lago Grey to take a catamaran to Grey Glacier (only accessible by boat). The catamaran is located at the end of a very long (about 1.25 miles), very windy and sandy spit of land that stretches out into Lago Grey.

Pro Tips:

Tip #1: For the best views from the inside of the catamaran, choose forward facing seats towards on starboard bow.

Tip #2: Hold on tight to your drink vouchers in the strong winds, as they’ll reward you with pisco sours once the boat is underway.

The trip to the glacier takes about 20-30 minutes depending on the wind and waves, and number of ice bergs to navigate. It was a windy, wet, and wavy trip out. As we approached, the clouds started to lift, revealing the jagged Andes above, and the intense blue of the Grey Glacier contrasting with the silty grey of Lago Grey.

Tip #3: Go to the upstairs observation deck for better 360 views.

There are three faces of the glacier reaching into Lago Grey, and often ice bergs that have broken off from the glacier prevent the catamaran from navigating too close. However, today we were lucky and were able to get very close, revealing the intense blue colors and the curious shapes of the ice.

We were lucky enough (or unlucky, as it means climate change continues to melt the glacier at 100m per year, and recede the Southern Patagonia Ice Field) to witness a large glacial calving.

We witnessed several more calvings as we navigated between the three arms of Grey Glacier. On the third arm, there were so many large icebergs floating in the water that the catamaran wasn’t able to maneuver close to the glacier, but it could navigate close to the icebergs, and they were beautiful. Although it was raining, a little ray of sun was able to peak thru and created an incredible scene of intensely blue ice and the full spectrum of a well positioned rainbow.

It was an absolutely spectacular and stunning way to end our trip in Patagonia. You couldn’t have asked for a more opportune moment, as well as a savvy captain who knew exactly how to position his boat for maximum effect.

We returned to Patagonia Camp for our last dinner, which was exquisite. It was our first taste of guanaco. While Clara and I were timid to try it, it was surprisingly delicious, as if part filet mignon and part pork tenderloin. Guanaco raised for food are apparently farmed in Tierra del Fuego.

Sunday morning we woke early to mixed rain and snow, reflecting our emotions as we prepared to leave Patagonia and Chile. The rain turned to snow and made the Patagonian steppe white as we drove to Punta Arenas. It was a surreal scene to see guanaco and rheas standing in fields dusted with the first snowfall of the changing seasons.

We had a ~30 hour journey back to the USA (4.5 hour drive to Punta Arenas, 2.5 hours of waiting for a 3.5 hour flight to Santiago, 3 hour layover in Santiago, 4.5 hour flight to Lima, 2.5 hour layover in Lima and then a 9 hour flight to LAX, with a few more hours to clear customs, deal with a Global Entry application, and catch an Uber back to Clara’s apartment, where I immediately started back at work that Monday morning).

While vacation was over, the commentary and consensus was, “That was epic. So worth it. I would do that again”.