ALIVE

Well, we survived our first trek in Patagonia, in the Parque Nacional de los Glaciares. (Yes, that is exactly what it sounds like: the national park of the glaciars. The park straddles the Hielo Sur, an enormous ice field that stretches for hundreds of kilometers north to south, and glaciars spill out of the ice field into lakes and streams.) It got pretty cold but we still have all our fingers and toes. We also were pretty lucky with the weather-- it was snowing (!!) when we left, which wasn't promising, but for two of the four days we had sun and clear views of the mountains. Many beautiful pictures to come over the next few days.

The trail leading to Piedra de Fraile, where we spent our first night.

Looking up the river towards Lago Electrico. If you go all the way up the valley, you can walk onto the glaciar and up onto the Hielo Sur. We saw a few people heading out with packs and sleds to spend a few days trekking on the ice--made us feel like amateurs!