Finally reached the living glacier that has been around for 200,000 years

From a delayed start at one location, I could have stayed an extra day in Calafate to delve deeper into Patagonia, but due to a strike, I had to cut the day short. Fortunately, I had an extra day to rest at this place. Long-distance travel really doesn't allow for plans, or you'll just experience a lot of changes. Among the people who set off together in Ushuaia, there were locals, Canadians, Chinese, and Japanese. We safely passed 24 hours and upon arriving at El Calafate in the early morning, we gave a ride to the Japanese girl, Natsum, who had no internet, no wifi at the station, no Uber, and couldn't get a taxi. It's advisable for friends coming here to contact their accommodation in advance and get some drivers' contact information; it's better to arrange a pickup in advance. The next morning, according to the original plan (which was already postponed by a day), we walked to the station in the dark around eight o'clock (it gets dark late here in the deep autumn of the Southern Hemisphere). Along the way, there were many dogs. There are really a lot of stray big dogs in Argentina. One even kept bringing us stones, asking us to play with it, so clingy. We met Natsum and successfully got on the bus at nine o'clock (round trip bus ticket costs 40,000 pesos per person). We slept all the way on the bus, which took a little over an hour to reach the entrance of Moreno Glacier National Park. We checked tickets (entrance fee is 12,000 pesos per person). Although it was a ticket for the 10th, I had inquired with the park in advance and they said it was fine as long as I explained why I didn't enter the park on the 10th. Indeed, the staff didn't ask, and after checking tickets, we drove another 40 minutes and finally reached the visitor center. We started walking the footbridges. This time, since we didn't have the equipment, we didn't join the glacier trekking group, nor did we join the cruise to see the glacier. We just purely watched from the footbridges. But actually, the footbridges are quite close, you can observe the glacier's crevasses (if you zoom in with a camera or phone lens). We saw several small ice calvings and missed two bigger ones. It turns out that the footbridges don't take very long to walk. It's just that taking photos or waiting for the glacier takes longer. There are five routes in total, and actually, each route is not difficult, it's just that the views are different. The green route is not open now, the purple route is for viewing the whole glacier, a very simple route. The red and yellow routes are where you can see the glacier best and are also the most crowded. To see ice calvings, I suggest friends who arrive in the morning to squat on the yellow line because once the cruise ships pass by, it seems to trigger some ice calvings. In the afternoon, you can squat on the red line. The ice calvings that go down usually happen on the red line side. I feel that if you don't squat for ice calvings, you can finish all the routes in 2-3 hours. The glacier has retreated a lot from 1987 to 2022, and it is one of the rare glaciers in the world where the rate of disappearance and growth is consistent. The consequences of climate warming are unimaginable. The third day was just strolling around the Argentine Lake and the town. Because it was winter, the water level in the lake was not high, and the flamingos were far away from us. But the town's roads were really deep into autumn, covered with golden fallen leaves. We gained two dog bodyguards, checked in at the town's landmark sign. Since it was Sunday, many shops in the town were closed. Since we cooked our own meals at the homestay this time, we glanced at the restaurant menu. A lamb leg set meal, lamb leg + red wine + something else (I didn't understand) costs less than 200 RMB, which feels like it's worth a try. There were some souvenir shops (the pink stone is Argentina's national stone, the rest I guess are made in Yiwu), some travel agencies (where you can join a tour), and my favorite supermarket (with its own brand of national supermarket). If you have the physical strength and budget, you can consider going to El Chalten, about 200 kilometers nearby, to delve deeper into Patagonia. I finally understand why more and more people like hiking in the wilderness. When you see all kinds of stunning nature, it's hard not to be attracted, hard not to want to get closer to explore and understand. You will think about the past and present, think about how to balance the relationship between humans and nature. You will find that in front of nature, those things about the future, work, and worldly matters are not worth mentioning. 'Casually wasting the beautiful scenery is disrespectful to it.'