Glacier Gray up close and personal

Up even earlier today to bus to a trailhead for a 15 minute hike to a pier where we boarded a boat to ferry us to a bigger boat on Lago Gray--what a site for departure! Amazing views in every direction! It took us a solid hour to motor the length of the lake to the glacier, funny thing about that: it seemed like mountains grew larger and we were getting nearer to them, but the glacier was elusive. It didn't seem any nearer than it had been. The glacier forked into two around an island that looked insignificant back where we started, but IT grew and grew! Very large! And finally we really approached the glacier and felt quite small--as one should feel in such proximity. I remember our guide in Iceland saying that glaciers have presence, almost like they are alive, and this one had that feeling too--a presence flowing into the lake right there where we were. We communed on one side then motored around the island to the other side; there I saw a landscape that I think I can create in cloth. I was/am excited about the prospect, have been excited about creating a glacier since Iceland but I didn't get any appropriate photos there. So I have hope of doing that now!

So an hour down the lake, an hour there, an hour back to the pier. Instead of the bus we walked back to the hotel through the woods and watched a Magellanic woodpecker for several minutes--another specimen for the list!

Box lunches in the bar looking out on the mountains---oh! did I tell you we had another incredible day? Much blue sky, warm temperatures of 70 degrees, and no wind. Did you hear me? I said, "No Wind!" which is apparently unheard of here. At some point we met an Overseas Adventure Travel group going the opposite direction and one woman said to one of us that the weather here had been miserable with very strong winds and low temps. The sun is still shining brightly and I can see patches of blue through the trees at 6:30 p.m. So fortunate are we, and we are grateful.

After lunch a delightful couple hours of down time, Kay and I both fell asleep! Awoke in time to meet the bus for another hike walking across the terminal moraine at the lake (so the magnificent mountains were still watching over us), then up and around a peninsula overlooking a section of the lake with glistening icebergs--looked like they were studded with diamonds! Very pleasant! Back to the hotel for a rest, soon drinks and dinner, then bed.

Tomorrow we'll leave dramatic Torres del Paine, just a few days left of our odyssey. What an amazing adventure we're having. Think we'll go for drinks now, G'night all!