(Pictured Above--Grey Glacier, Patagonia, Chile).
After nearly 25 hours of travel, we arrived at Las Torres, the hotel inside the heart of the national park. We spent the evening saying our hellos and getting settled in. The very next morning, we would meet at 7 AM to go on our first excursion at Lago Sarmiento with our wonderful guide, Geraldinne.
Pictured Below--Las Torres and Lago Sarmiento, Patagonia, Chile.
We spent the day on a boat visiting the Grey Glacier in Lago Grey. For many of us, it was the first time ever seeing a glacier this close. Back at home in Seattle, we have a few on Mount Rainier, Mount Baker, etc. but none feeding into massive lakes such as this one. For me, it was a bittersweet moment as we got closer to the glacier. I recall water getting on my lens and I thought to myself: "this is weird, the sun is out behind the clouds, it's not raining is it?" It took me a few more moments to realize that it was the glacier literally melting right in front of us. The strong winds in Patagonia were carrying these water droplets out from the glacier, which was still hundreds of meters away.
One of my favorite parts of the glaciers was how it would appear to change colors as the sun hit it in different angles. It's not something easy to describe in words, so the next best way i know how is through photos--see below.
On the way home from Grey Glacier, we stopped by Lago Pehoé. Lago Pehoé (pay-oh-hey) translates beautifully to 'hidden lake.' Cliché, but I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw its color. One of the most brilliant blues I have ever seen.
Salto Grande and Rio Paine
We spent a day visiting two different waterfalls, Salto Grande and the Rio Paine. The sun happened to be hitting Salto Grande at just the right angle, so that a rainbow formed (pictured second). Afterwards, we went to Rio Paine to a surprisingly wide spanning waterfall.
End
When I travel, I look for a place hat is trying to tell a story. Mountains and glaciers don't tend to have voices, so I try to create one for them: Who has climbed them? How are we losing them? I'm inspired by anything beautiful [and] I'm a little crazy about wanting to save things I love, it's the glaciers that we're losing so quickly to climate change that breaks my heart. Please help save our planet.
