Campolina! Campolina!

Glacier Perito Moreno. AWESOME!

Campolina! Campolina!

Not only the title of this post, but the title of Beth and Jason's future reggatone duet, debuting September 2010. This foray into the music industry has been inspired by the informative reggatone compilation DVD, seen on the bus to their current location of El Calafate, and the last 14 days of camping (sans 2 days on a bus and a brief, yet unexpected stop in Rio Gallegos).

The album contains many hits, including the mesmorizing, "I Wanna Tent You Up," a unique description of their first couple of nights in the quaint, although quite touristy, town of El Calafate (not to mention Jason's battle with his sleeping bag in the morning). It begins with their 1am arrival, a walk through town the next day, including the discovery of a new phenomenon: cookies with Dulce de leche in the center (not new) and then dipped in the milkiest chocolate you could imagine (new, exciting, even inspiring) and eventually ends with an enjoyable, if somewhat anti-climatic, stay in a town better described as a jumping off point for adventures in the surrounding area.

Another hit, "Dont Hate The Hiker, Hate The Trail," follows their journey through the pristine area of Lago Roca. An attempt at getting off the beaten path led the two travelers to a free campground. Unfortunately, no local buses ventured to this area so they were forced to jump in a tourist van and hike the remaining few kilometers out to a campground with nary another soul near. The only hitch was that it was on a dirt road and they had to carry all their belongings and food for the next few days (tasty cheese sandwiches, aka their daily lunch). Going to sleep to the sound of pumas, foxes, rodents and night birds rumaging through their trash clearly was revelatory, but not as wonderful as waking up to no neighboring campers and watching the sun rise in their own personal campground with views of amazing lake nestled below the Andes.

The view from right outside our tent.

The dynamic "Big World, Little Glacier," has more worldly overtones, delving into such topics as global warming and the impact of the receding glaciers. Their visit to the awe inspiring glacier Perrito Moreno, located 80 km from El Calafate, seems to have been the inspiration for this track. The sheer size, 30km long, 5km wide and 60m high make it a sight to behold. But, because the park is incredibly well developed (there are at least a couple miles worth of metal walkways with hundreds if different perspectives in which to see the glacier) one is able to see the glacier's more impressive facets such as its 60m face with it's craggy feautures and the phosphorescent blue which seems to originate from somewhere inside, almost as if it were glowing. The most intimidating of ice, indeed.

Lago Argentina (the glacier is at the bass of this snow patch)

Overall, it's quite the impressive album, it almost feels as if you are going on a trip with two wayward travelers through the small Patagonian town of El Calafate and its surrounding natural beauties. A must see.

An inlet off of Lago Argentina that doubles as a beautiful bird sanctuary. Look hard and
you can find the flamingo!

Notes:

- Peritto Moreno was one of the only stable glaciers in South America, and perhaps the world until around 2007 when it too began seeing a noticeable receding. We saw pictures from a few years ago in which the glacier had this amazing ice bridge connecting it to the shore. That is no longer there, though remanants do remain on the shore.

We miss you!

- The dimensions of Perito Moreno provided herein were supplied by Lonely Planet, Argentina 2008, thus may no longer be accurate.

- Lago Roca does have a campground which you can pay to stay at, (and conveniently has toilets, the free sites lacking this superfluous amenity), which is why a tour bus heads out there at all.

- Big thanks for all the inspiration to the following: Daddee Yankee, Color Me Bad, Nature, in particular Perito Moreno and Lago Roca, Beth for falling down on a trail and thinking herself a bad hiker, thus creating an entire song about hating trails and not hikers, God (maybe that's a bit too far, perhaps just Jesus), Rolling Stone magazine, and lastly the color blue, because without it, glaciers would just be giant ice cubes.