Day 2: Los Glaciares National Park, El Chalten

We unzipped our tents at 6am next morning to the sight of amber peaks blushing under the first rays of the sun. Guess who was doing the rounds waking people up? Mariano you bet! We dragged ourselves to the wooden box first and then to the breakfast tent.

The agenda this morning included crossing a river on a rope harness, a trek across the glacier, and attempting to climb an ice wall. Trekking on the glacier requires clampons, special spiky shoes that are tied to your hiking boots. Mariano had custom fitted clampons for each of us that we had to carry this morning. After breakfast, the guides fitted us with harnesses for the river crossing and ice climbing. There was an eerie feeling when we tightened the harnesses around our waist. We had never previously attempted any of these activities.

Before leaving the camp, the cooks handed out lunch packets. Since we were returning to camp after the glacier trek, we decided not to carry any extra stuff with us, including lunch. A mistake we would dearly regret. We set off with backpacks weighed down by the heavy iron clampons, water, gloves, and warm clothes.

The hike to the glacier was an relentless three hour climb punctuated with the most gorgeous vistas. Mariana and Pepe were barely giving us any time to soak in views of the sparkling glacier and the surrounding peaks silhoutted against the spotless blue skies. We marched onward on a thin ridge until we hit the river crossing. Gulp! Kavita was openly nervous while Nagesh seemed very excited about this stunt. A rope is tied across the river and they attach you to it at the waist. Then swinging from the rope, you pull yourself to the other shore using your arms and the pulley. Kavita thought the first girl to volunteer and scurry across on the rope was mighty brave. Soon, Mariano was strapping Kavita on and she rolled along with the alacrity of a pro, shouting from the other end that it had seemed tougher than it really was. Nagesh went next, trying not to look down at the river gushing below. It was very exhilarating.

After a very arduous hike through huge rocks we got to the mouth of the glacier. It seemed completely unreal. We were standing on ice with crystal fields stretching all around us. The initial part of the glacier was black. We could´ve been walking on another planet, the moon, anywhere but on this earth. Clampon time!

Mariana and Pepe made sure our new shoes were properly tied on. We felt like titans from The Terminator - an army on the move. Clampons make the feet so heavy and you have to keep your feet far apart to prevent from tripping over yourself. Not a risk worth taking, unless you want to explore those deep glacial crevices. The ice cracked under our feet like glass but soon we were confidently trekking on ice. But wait a minute. The confidence melted away into a puddle of mortal fear when we were required to jump across a huge crevice to the other side. Two guides on each end held on to our hands and harnesses. There was no time to procrastinate. They would just yell jump and push you across before you knew what was happening.

Every shade of blue is reflected in the nooks and cranies of the glacier. The penetrating rays of the sun bring out unreal tones. Aaah!!! Ever tried a refreshing swig of water fresh from a melting glacier? Pure pure water, but, as Pepe was quick to point out, totally devoid of any minerals. After an hour on the glacier we faced our last challenge: a 60 foot ice wall. Time for the lunch that we´d conveniently left at the camp. We were famished and it didn´t help to watch others gulping down their sandwiches.

Nagesh was the first volunteer to climb the wall. Bravo! Kavita was so proud of him. First Mariano gave us some pointers on the technical climb using ice picks and clampons. The key is to use one limb at a time and get a good foothold before hoisting yourself up. And this one is way tougher than it looks. Up went Nagesh without a glitch, straight to the top of the wall as everyone around cheered on. Kavita had knots in her tummy... did she have to do this? The girls that went up next just could not get a firm foothold and were struggling to stay on. One guy´s shoes came off midway and another was hanging with one arm. None of this was boosting Kavita´s courage. All except Nagesh and Pepe who played cheerleaders. Kavita went up one step at a time, without any disastrous moments. It felt like such an accomplishment! Now we know Spiderman´s job ain´t easy.

We started at 8am and our strenuous day ended at 6pm. More than 8 hours of intense activities later - did we mention that we hiked with full backpacks - we were beat and lacking the energy even to walk to our bus station. A 5 hour long bumpy ride awaited us before we could hit the hot shower and the sack. To add to our misery, we must tell you that there are huge signs all over the bus forbidding you from taking your shoes off. Since we weren´t carrying flip-flops, we had to squirm in our sweaty socks the rest of the way home.