After our adventures on the Carretera Austral, it was time for a border crossing again – back to Argentina. There are no roads in this region though, so the crossing can only be done by ferry and on foot. First, a bus brought us to the pier for the ferry. What followed was a 3 h ferry ride to Candelario Mancilla, but instead of getting off the ferry right away, we had opted to add a visit of the O’Higgins Glacier.

Best decision ever! Already the boat ride to Candelario Mancilla was pretty and in the end we saw the first icebergs floating around, which got us excited for what was to come. The tour took the whole afternoon during which we gradually went closer to the glacier. More and more icebergs of different shapes and colours were floating around us. It was beautiful!! I never thought ice could be that fascinating.

And finally, the boat went around a corner and the glacier came into view. Wow!! The blue ice wall and how the ice field stretches up the mountain are truly amazing. There was also another glacier right next to it, so basically a double glacier experience.

We were super lucky with the weather too – barely a cloud in the sky and the water as calm as possible. Such days are rare here and we fully appreciated it and spent the whole time outside on the deck, admiring the glacier and icebergs. We got a glass of whiskey on the rocks – ice chunks from the glacier – which we enjoyed in the sun while taking loads of pictures. Suddenly, we heard some loud cracking and rumbling… small pieces of ice were falling off the ice wall… until suddenly a piece as big as a 3 storey building broke off with a loud bang! Wow!!! Mathijs managed to capture the whole process on camera and we all stood fascinated until we saw the huge wave that was building up and the captain stepped on the gas pedal at full speed! Ouufff! Luckily he had so much experience, since I don’t think anyone felt like getting a bath of ice water…

All in all it was an amazing day and we’re very glad we went on this tour. There were no other boats around, so the experience felt very special. In Candelario Mancilla, we camped on a hill with a beautiful view over the lake – with the one or other iceberg floating past in the distance…

Next day, we had to cross the border on foot. We paid to get our big bags transported until the border line and hiked with our small bags until then on a gravel road. Afterwards, the path gets narrow though and we had to carry all our stuff (approx. 25 kg each) until Lago del Desierto, where the Argentinian immigration office is located. What made it better were the nice views we got along the way – especially the ones of Mt. Fitz Roy greeting us from far away already! This is where we were headed – to El Chalten.

At the North end of Lago del Desierto, there’s another ferry to take to the South end. Initially we were thinking about hiking to save on the outrageous ferry price, but we were tired and didn’t want to waste the whole next day with this border crossing as well. 25 kg in 2 bags each are not nothing to carry on small hiking trails! So…we sucked it up and paid for the ferry, but decided to stay at the camping at the other end of the lake.

Next morning, we took a brief hike up to the Huemul glacier, but it paled in comparison to what we had seen the other day…

We then hitched another two rides to El Chalten, happy to arrive and stay in one place for a bit again!