Geese, Guanacos and Glacier Grey

Gadzooks, I'm late for Alphabe-Thursday! That's because I had a gazillion photos to sort through and edit, not to mention that I actually have a life too. But, here I am, better late than never (at least, from my perspective, that is). And, if you haven't guessed, it's glorious G at which we're gazing this week. Come along with me on my continuing journey through Patagonian Chile.

First off, this is our favorite goose. The hubs and I call them "mop geese", because of their curly feathers, which when wet, look like a dirty mop. We've seen quite a few of them in southern Chile, although, from what I gathered, they are called Sebastapol Geese and are not indigenous.

Next, if you've never met a guanaco,  you haven't been to Patagonia. Members of the llama family, they are indigenous and wild and cute as can be.

And finally (for this week), no trip to Chilean Patagonia would be complete with seeing glaciers. In face, you'd pretty much have to have your eyes closed to not see them. If you go to the far enough south to  Torres del Paine National Park, you can get pretty up close and personal with them if you're willing to hike or take a boat ride.

Welcome to Lago Grey (Grey Lake), at the top of which sits Grey Glacier. When the glacier calves (chunks break off), the bergs get blown across the lake some 17 kilometers (approx. 10.5 miles), and wash up on the lake shore. (If you're like my hubs, you'll want to pick up a small chunk and taste the ice that might be 10s of thousands of years old. He's kind of funny like that. If you're like the rest of us,  you'll be happy to just ooh and ah at the amazing blue color of the huge pieces of ice).

To give you a little perspective, the glacier is approximately 2.5 miles wide where it flows into the lake. As with many other glaciers in the world, it is shrinking. It's receded visibly in the 10 years that I've been going there. 

Here you can see the glacier from above after a steep 1.5 hour hike. It was worth it for the views!

And seen from a boat...the front edge of the glacier is between 100 and 300 feet high. Hard to imagine from looking at a photo.

Yes, it really is that blue. It's from thousands of years worth of snow being layered on top of the glacier and then being compressed with each successive winter's snow falls. (And it helps to see it on a slightly overcast day...not so much that there's no sun, but just enough to filter the sunlight...we definitely hit pay dirt with the weather on our last trip)!

Be sure to get on over to Mrs. Jenny's and see what the other Alphabetarians have got going with the letter G this week by clicking HERE.