DAY 4: Cerro Tronador
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| Day 4 we did an all-day excursion to hike Cerro Tronador, 3478m, in Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi. Cerro Tronador is an extinct volcano. Here is a glacial stream-- gray from the minerals washed up from the rocks that the melting glaciers pass over. It was a nice 2-hour hike through the forest to... |
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| Castaña Overa Glacier (top.) This is the first time I've seen a glacier from the BOTTOM of a mountain. You can see the waterfalls running down from the melting ice. Tronador means "thunder," which we had the chance to hear when a piece of ice broke off the glacier and fell down the mountainside. Our guide told us that scientists estimate that there will be no more ice in this part of the Andes in 30-40 years. |
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| This is a llao llao. (zsh-ow, zsh-ow), which means "sweet sweet." It's a mushroom that was a staple of the diet of the early people in this area. They are bright orange, and each grow to the size of a golfball. I ate one. There is a peninsula named after them, as well as a luxury hotel. |
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| After hiking back, we hopped on the bus to Glacier Negro. Yes, that's a black glacier. The lumpy, striated thing flowing out of the valley. It's a rare thing that happens when certain conditions are right. A glacier above melts, collects rock debris as it flows downward, and then actually reforms into ice below. The chunks in the water are not rock, but black ice. Strange and beautiful. On to our last days... |
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