On day two, we met our tour group at the office of Hielo y Aventura for mini-trekking on Perito Moreno glacier. The bus drove us to the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares where we got on a boat to travel to the glacier. The entrance fee is 700 pesos ($19) per person, but you get a 50% discount off the second day if you pay for two days up front. Since we are coming back into the park tomorrow, that works for us.
The ride out to the glacier is about twenty minutes and the view out the window as the glacier comes into focus is spectacular. We have definitely never seen anything like this before.
The Perito Moreno glacier is 60 meters tall above the level of the water which is imposing, but it continues under the water for 120 meters. It is 4 km long by 3 km wide and part of the Patagonian ice field, which is the third largest mass of ice in the world after Antártica and Greenland.
The Patagonian glaciers are formed by winds that move from west to east bringing humidity from the ocean that turns into rain over the fjords and snow at higher elevation. Glacier ice is formed from layers of snow that survive the summer and turn to ice over a period of seven to ten years. Gravity causes the ice to flow. The middle of the glacier can move up to 2 meters a day.
The Perito Moreno glacier is considered stable, i.e. not receding, because 70% of it produces snow. This is not true of some of the other glaciers in the Patagonian ice field like Uppsala which we will see tomorrow.
After arriving at the Perito Moreno glacier, we are outfitted with these very simple, yet immensely practical, crampons that are strapped to our feet by the guides.
We are instructed to walk with our feet wider apart than normal to avoid stepping on our own feet or tripping. We are also given gloves in case we fall as the surface of the ice is very sharp. The next thing we know, we are walking on a glacier.
Walking on ice in crampons takes a little getting used to. To go up you have to walk with your feet turns out a bit like a duck, 
and to go down, you have to point your feet straight down. If you try to go up or down by side stepping like you might on skis, you are liable to twist your ankle. It doesn’t take us long to get the hang of it.
The surface ice is white, or in some places brown from the dust that is carried by the wind, but there are pockets of beautiful blue where the ice is harder and the air bubbles have been compressed so only the blue light from the sun is reflected.
We trek up and down the mounds of ice and find a small stream of glacier water where we can fill up our water bottle. 
The water is very cold but very refreshing. The guides point out interesting features including large holes that continue down 20 or 30 meters. After an hour and a half we find ourselves back at the entrance to the glacier where the guides have set out trays with glasses and where they are breaking apart a massive glacier ice cube. We realize they are about to serve us 8-year-old whisky with 400-year-old ice on a glacier!
Whisky with 400-year-old glacier ice 
Salud!
After the ice trekking we take the boat back to the bus which drops us off at the viewing walkways to see Perito Moreno from the other side. Every once in a while, a piece of ice on the front of the wall breaks off and falls into the water. Even though the pieces are usually small they make a thunderous sound and create a slowly rippling wave in the lake. It is fascinating to watch.
By the time you finish your year of travel You can open a travel agency where Erik and Jess give people an annual tour of the world on a min budget.
Drink with 400 year old ice, how intimidating, makes you realize how insignificant we are. A spec of dust flying with the wind but yet trying to leave a foot print on the send of time.