1 00:00:01,999 --> 00:00:04,959 Once relatively obscure Argentina's Patagonia 2 00:00:04,959 --> 00:00:09,626 region is vast, empty and windswept. 3 00:00:09,626 --> 00:00:11,501 I know there are condors around here because we 4 00:00:11,501 --> 00:00:12,667 could see em from the distance. 5 00:00:12,667 --> 00:00:17,918 And until recently international tourists only trickled in. 6 00:00:17,918 --> 00:00:22,417 Now they're flocking south to see the best glacial 7 00:00:22,417 --> 00:00:26,709 landscape in the world. 8 00:00:29,667 --> 00:00:31,792 Funding for The Desert Speaks 9 00:00:31,792 --> 00:00:34,250 was provided by Desert Program Partners, 10 00:00:34,250 --> 00:00:37,709 representing concerned viewers making a financial commitment 11 00:00:37,709 --> 00:00:41,834 to the education about and preservation of deserts. 12 00:00:41,834 --> 00:00:46,626 And by the Stonewall Foundation. 13 00:00:48,999 --> 00:01:14,000 ♪ music ♪ 14 00:01:17,042 --> 00:01:20,125 Over the last couple of decades increasing number 15 00:01:20,125 --> 00:01:23,292 of Europeans have been stopping in Buenos Aires, 16 00:01:23,292 --> 00:01:26,751 not just to see the sophisticated city but as 17 00:01:26,751 --> 00:01:29,999 a starting point to visit the greatest glacial 18 00:01:29,999 --> 00:01:31,959 landscape in the world. 19 00:01:31,959 --> 00:01:38,751 It's part of Argentina's vast Patagonia. 20 00:01:38,751 --> 00:01:42,542 Buenos Aires is probably the western hemisphere's 21 00:01:42,542 --> 00:01:45,999 most European city, as sophisticated and 22 00:01:45,999 --> 00:01:48,834 cosmopolitan as it gets. 23 00:01:48,834 --> 00:01:55,959 One of every three Argentine's lives in and around the city. 24 00:01:57,792 --> 00:02:02,626 There is a old opera house that has been remodeled 25 00:02:02,626 --> 00:02:05,083 and turned into a bookstore. 26 00:02:05,083 --> 00:02:08,417 We may have to walk awhile to find it but its said to 27 00:02:08,417 --> 00:02:10,000 be the best place in all of 28 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:12,999 Buenos Aires to find wildlife guides. 29 00:02:12,999 --> 00:02:15,626 And certain Buenos Aires is full of wildlife, 30 00:02:15,626 --> 00:02:18,125 beginning particularly after about 10:00 at night 31 00:02:18,125 --> 00:02:20,751 and running til about 3 or 4 in the morning. 32 00:02:20,751 --> 00:02:22,999 But the book I'm looking for has mammals, 33 00:02:22,999 --> 00:02:25,709 birds and fishes in it and that's a little bit 34 00:02:25,709 --> 00:02:29,083 different from the wildlife in Buenos Aires. 35 00:02:29,083 --> 00:02:30,999 It's gotta be here somewhere. 36 00:02:30,999 --> 00:02:34,292 It's on the Avenida Santa Fe. 37 00:02:34,292 --> 00:02:49,834 [Spanish] 38 00:02:49,834 --> 00:02:52,999 Well, I'm finally here, El Latinejo. 39 00:02:52,999 --> 00:02:55,834 Oh, I see why they do call this a former theater. 40 00:02:55,834 --> 00:02:58,542 It actually is. There's the stage. 41 00:02:58,542 --> 00:03:01,999 Great idea for a theater, turn it into a bookstore. 42 00:03:01,999 --> 00:03:06,584 Now if I can find a wildlife guide. 43 00:03:06,584 --> 00:03:08,292 This is the one that I want. 44 00:03:08,292 --> 00:03:12,042 This is really good, Guide to Patagonia. 45 00:03:12,042 --> 00:03:14,667 Patagonia begins about 700 kilometers 46 00:03:14,667 --> 00:03:17,125 south of Buenos Aires. 47 00:03:17,125 --> 00:03:21,125 It accounts for nearly 1/3 of the area of Argentina 48 00:03:21,125 --> 00:03:25,959 but only a tiny fraction of the total population. 49 00:03:25,959 --> 00:03:29,501 But Patagonia is dry, cold and windswept and in the 50 00:03:29,501 --> 00:03:34,417 west lacking in roads, rugged and pock-marked 51 00:03:34,417 --> 00:03:36,042 with glacial lakes. 52 00:03:36,042 --> 00:03:41,417 Many of the people there live onestancias, huge ranches. 53 00:03:41,417 --> 00:03:44,292 The nearby mountains where horses take us are home 54 00:03:44,292 --> 00:03:46,834 to the Andean condor. 55 00:03:46,834 --> 00:03:53,834 One of Argentina's Patagonia experts is Maria Jose Figerero. 56 00:03:53,834 --> 00:03:55,999 For some of us who are skinny the hard saddle 57 00:03:55,999 --> 00:04:01,918 takes a little bit of doing, getting used to. 58 00:04:01,918 --> 00:04:03,083 What's yours named? 59 00:04:03,083 --> 00:04:04,167 Juan Perres. 60 00:04:04,167 --> 00:04:06,083 Juan Perres. John Smith. 61 00:04:06,083 --> 00:04:07,417 Rabicano. 62 00:04:07,417 --> 00:04:08,709 So the dog's name is Caramba, 63 00:04:08,709 --> 00:04:12,918 he's just a puppy and he'll go all day without getting tired. 64 00:04:12,918 --> 00:04:15,209 Come on, Caramba, move. 65 00:04:15,209 --> 00:04:16,999 Vamos pues. 66 00:04:16,999 --> 00:04:20,125 Lagos San Martin was created by a galacier 67 00:04:20,125 --> 00:04:23,042 that came off the continental ice field and 68 00:04:23,042 --> 00:04:26,792 carried on many kilometers beyond the point where it 69 00:04:26,792 --> 00:04:29,459 ends right now and the land all around it has 70 00:04:29,459 --> 00:04:35,000 been smoothed by the great mass of ice crushing the 71 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:38,417 surface and rounding all the rough edges left by 72 00:04:38,417 --> 00:04:43,125 land forms created by volcanic action many years ago. 73 00:04:43,125 --> 00:04:45,959 In the desert you can remember your name, 74 00:04:45,959 --> 00:04:51,834 cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain. 75 00:04:51,834 --> 00:04:54,501 You know, that volcanic plug out there, 76 00:04:54,501 --> 00:04:56,000 that must have been huge. 77 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:58,542 But imagine all the ice going over it because it's 78 00:04:58,542 --> 00:05:00,999 been rounded all over by the ice. 79 00:05:00,999 --> 00:05:02,292 Yeah. 80 00:05:02,292 --> 00:05:04,209 So this had ice a kilometer deep? 81 00:05:04,209 --> 00:05:05,501 Yes, at least. 82 00:05:05,501 --> 00:05:08,209 There's even a kilometer deep in the ice hill right 83 00:05:08,209 --> 00:05:12,709 now so coming down at that time at the glacial 84 00:05:12,709 --> 00:05:19,792 maximum it would have been about this deep at least. 85 00:05:19,792 --> 00:05:21,584 Life here is, is hard. 86 00:05:21,584 --> 00:05:26,375 You're far from, all these lakes are at least between 87 00:05:26,375 --> 00:05:29,667 90 to 70 kilometers of the main road, 88 00:05:29,667 --> 00:05:33,709 which is usually a place where you use to get to 89 00:05:33,709 --> 00:05:37,999 another crossroads or the settlement and maybe then 90 00:05:37,999 --> 00:05:41,167 many hundreds of kilometers more until a 91 00:05:41,167 --> 00:05:43,334 big city where you get supplies. 92 00:05:43,334 --> 00:05:46,125 So you live pretty isolated. 93 00:05:46,125 --> 00:05:47,999 You see I've been through the 94 00:05:47,999 --> 00:05:49,918 desert on a horse with no name. 95 00:05:49,918 --> 00:05:53,999 It felt good to be out of the rain. 96 00:05:53,999 --> 00:05:56,709 So how much rainfall do you figure they get here. 97 00:05:56,709 --> 00:05:58,709 We have around about 400. 98 00:05:58,709 --> 00:06:01,042 About 16 inches. 99 00:06:01,042 --> 00:06:01,501 Yeah. 100 00:06:01,501 --> 00:06:03,999 Maybe that 16 inches of rain is diminished by the 101 00:06:03,999 --> 00:06:09,125 constant wind evaporating and sucking the moisture out. 102 00:06:09,125 --> 00:06:11,209 All these plants are adapted to whenever the 103 00:06:11,209 --> 00:06:13,959 rain comes down to make the most of it. 104 00:06:13,959 --> 00:06:16,083 All right, pick it up, that's right, up the hill, 105 00:06:16,083 --> 00:06:17,167 up the hill. 106 00:06:17,167 --> 00:06:19,250 Let's see what's on top of the mesa. 107 00:06:19,250 --> 00:06:21,999 So it, now is that Chile over there? 108 00:06:21,999 --> 00:06:23,167 Right, that's it. 109 00:06:23,167 --> 00:06:25,709 That's the beginning of the western margin of one 110 00:06:25,709 --> 00:06:27,959 of the Lakes of Martin. 111 00:06:27,959 --> 00:06:30,167 So we're looking on Chile now surrounded by these 112 00:06:30,167 --> 00:06:31,751 two mountains here. 113 00:06:31,751 --> 00:06:33,918 I know there are condors around here because we 114 00:06:33,918 --> 00:06:35,459 could see em from the distance. 115 00:06:35,459 --> 00:06:37,125 If you concentrate over there, 116 00:06:37,125 --> 00:06:38,751 there's a cliff face there, 117 00:06:38,751 --> 00:06:40,459 they should be flying out around about this time. 118 00:06:40,459 --> 00:06:44,542 You can see the, the feathers on the tips of 119 00:06:44,542 --> 00:06:45,999 their wings as they use em. 120 00:06:45,999 --> 00:06:48,834 If you see the underside is black, it's, it's a condor. 121 00:06:48,834 --> 00:06:52,250 Usually the size of them is a dead giveaway but 122 00:06:52,250 --> 00:06:53,375 just to make sure. 123 00:06:53,375 --> 00:06:55,292 What about the whiteness on the head, 124 00:06:55,292 --> 00:06:57,167 when it turns you can see that. 125 00:06:57,167 --> 00:06:59,751 There's an adult, which is the one that you saw 126 00:06:59,751 --> 00:07:01,999 with the white ruff. 127 00:07:01,999 --> 00:07:02,751 Yeah. 128 00:07:02,751 --> 00:07:03,999 And if you keep an eye on it, 129 00:07:03,999 --> 00:07:05,999 when it turns it'll show the whites on the back but 130 00:07:05,999 --> 00:07:08,292 the other one is darker and I'm guessing it's one 131 00:07:08,292 --> 00:07:09,375 of the juveniles. 132 00:07:09,375 --> 00:07:11,792 There's two more, there's two more. 133 00:07:11,792 --> 00:07:13,792 This is training flights for, for the young one. 134 00:07:13,792 --> 00:07:15,626 Well, it's surrounded by a whole lot of cliffs and 135 00:07:15,626 --> 00:07:17,459 the temperature of the lake is surely creating 136 00:07:17,459 --> 00:07:19,959 differences in the air temperature so probably 137 00:07:19,959 --> 00:07:23,125 the right conditions for them to swirl around and, 138 00:07:23,125 --> 00:07:27,334 and practice flying with the thermals going up and 139 00:07:27,334 --> 00:07:28,999 then going down. 140 00:07:28,999 --> 00:07:33,999 So, this is a prime area for watching for condors. 141 00:07:33,999 --> 00:07:36,209 Now their wingspan is 3 meters? 142 00:07:36,209 --> 00:07:36,918 Yeah. 143 00:07:36,918 --> 00:07:39,083 That's a very large bird. 144 00:07:39,083 --> 00:07:40,042 10 feet. 145 00:07:40,042 --> 00:07:41,459 That's a huge bird. 146 00:07:41,459 --> 00:07:43,375 It's very hard to get a real dimension of it when 147 00:07:43,375 --> 00:07:45,167 it's kind of black against the sky, 148 00:07:45,167 --> 00:07:46,999 you think it's kind of small. 149 00:07:46,999 --> 00:07:48,959 Yeah, you can't, there's nothing to compare it with. 150 00:07:48,959 --> 00:07:51,709 If you don't test it there with their wings spread 151 00:07:51,709 --> 00:07:53,999 out and their flight feathers at the end just 152 00:07:53,999 --> 00:07:55,999 like fingertips and they move maybe just very 153 00:07:55,999 --> 00:07:59,626 certainly a few feathers and they kind of soar 154 00:07:59,626 --> 00:08:01,709 around one direction and maybe another, 155 00:08:01,709 --> 00:08:03,209 it's amazing the grace with which. 156 00:08:03,209 --> 00:08:05,542 Very sensitive control, flight control, yes. 157 00:08:05,542 --> 00:08:07,501 But you, you can tell that they, 158 00:08:07,501 --> 00:08:09,584 that's the sheer pleasure of flying, 159 00:08:09,584 --> 00:08:11,626 especially on very, very windy days. 160 00:08:11,626 --> 00:08:13,709 I mean, you're sure to see condors out high. 161 00:08:13,709 --> 00:08:16,999 There are some that must be two miles away. 162 00:08:16,999 --> 00:08:18,999 Yeah, the tip of the, the plateau there. 163 00:08:18,999 --> 00:08:24,334 And they just went down below the tip of that ridge. 164 00:08:24,626 --> 00:08:27,000 These glacial lakes always seem to be just a little 165 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:27,918 bit cloudy. 166 00:08:27,918 --> 00:08:29,667 Yeah, well, it's from the sediment that collects 167 00:08:29,667 --> 00:08:31,584 from the base of the glacier, it's ground rock, 168 00:08:31,584 --> 00:08:34,584 and so it doesn't allow the sun to reflect the deep blue 169 00:08:34,584 --> 00:08:36,999 that we're accustomed from still sitting lakes 170 00:08:36,999 --> 00:08:39,999 while all the sediment has gone down to the bottom. 171 00:08:39,999 --> 00:08:41,375 This is kind of greenish. 172 00:08:41,375 --> 00:08:43,999 The lighter color it is the nearer is to the glacier. 173 00:08:43,999 --> 00:08:46,459 I see. Well, this, one thing I can do here, 174 00:08:46,459 --> 00:08:49,459 which I could do in no lake in the United States, 175 00:08:49,459 --> 00:08:55,167 cause I know this water is pure, mmm, oh. 176 00:08:55,167 --> 00:08:58,999 There's some evidence that people who drink only 177 00:08:58,999 --> 00:09:01,250 glacial melt water live longer. 178 00:09:01,250 --> 00:09:02,959 So maybe I'll move here. 179 00:09:02,959 --> 00:09:03,999 Yeah, we should. 180 00:09:03,999 --> 00:09:06,542 Say, this is L'agua San Martin in Argentina and in 181 00:09:06,542 --> 00:09:08,834 Chile it has a different name. Right. 182 00:09:08,834 --> 00:09:11,709 Bernardo Higgins, they're named after the two great 183 00:09:11,709 --> 00:09:15,125 leaders of independence here in both countries. 184 00:09:15,125 --> 00:09:17,501 When you get to the border the name changes. 185 00:09:17,501 --> 00:09:19,083 Right, exactly so. 186 00:09:19,083 --> 00:09:23,209 But this great lake was probably even greater in the past. 187 00:09:23,209 --> 00:09:27,667 We can see behind us old terraces that indicate, 188 00:09:27,667 --> 00:09:30,000 you know, a higher level of the lake. 189 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:34,125 So it was that, at that height within the last 15, 190 00:09:34,125 --> 00:09:35,751 20,000 years. 191 00:09:35,751 --> 00:09:37,999 Well, at least during the Halocene so it must have 192 00:09:37,999 --> 00:09:40,459 been that or then maybe less within the last 193 00:09:40,459 --> 00:09:41,959 10,000 years. 194 00:09:41,959 --> 00:09:43,501 So the terrace would have had, 195 00:09:43,501 --> 00:09:45,334 would have this mix of finer sediments, 196 00:09:45,334 --> 00:09:47,792 the sand and the fine, the small rocks that we have 197 00:09:47,792 --> 00:09:50,999 here, not the big mix of rocks that would be pushed 198 00:09:50,999 --> 00:09:53,999 forward by the glacier like a bulldozer which 199 00:09:53,999 --> 00:09:56,375 mixes everything up of any size. 200 00:09:56,375 --> 00:09:58,792 You look at this you want to go swimming, 201 00:09:58,792 --> 00:09:59,999 from a picture. 202 00:09:59,999 --> 00:10:01,459 Oh, yeah, definitely. 203 00:10:01,459 --> 00:10:03,083 But the temperature is probably, what, 204 00:10:03,083 --> 00:10:04,918 maybe 3 or 4 degrees above freezing? 205 00:10:04,918 --> 00:10:06,709 Uh, yeah, something like 4 degrees, 206 00:10:06,709 --> 00:10:09,709 can't be any warmer than that. 207 00:10:09,709 --> 00:10:19,999 The vegetation here shows the adaptation to the cold. 208 00:10:19,999 --> 00:10:20,959 And to the wind, right? 209 00:10:20,959 --> 00:10:22,999 And to the wind of course, you musn't forget the wind. 210 00:10:22,999 --> 00:10:25,834 We have these cushion bushes that accumulate on 211 00:10:25,834 --> 00:10:28,999 the landscape here and we have yellow flowers on 212 00:10:28,999 --> 00:10:31,000 this bush which is quite spiny. 213 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:34,167 Oh, my god, somebody had a weird sense of humor 214 00:10:34,167 --> 00:10:35,584 there,I don't wanna sit on that. 215 00:10:35,584 --> 00:10:37,292 And you have other things growing out of it like 216 00:10:37,292 --> 00:10:39,709 these grasses and the white flowers over there. 217 00:10:39,709 --> 00:10:40,959 Oh, so they're protecting, they are, 218 00:10:40,959 --> 00:10:42,999 they're a medium for other plants to come out of. 219 00:10:42,999 --> 00:10:43,501 Right, yeah. 220 00:10:43,501 --> 00:10:45,876 You find them along the ground and also in fields 221 00:10:45,876 --> 00:10:48,751 where there's been a lot of overgrazing. 222 00:10:48,751 --> 00:10:52,209 And the other plant that we have here is this 223 00:10:52,209 --> 00:10:54,999 coiron which is a grass that you 224 00:10:54,999 --> 00:10:57,792 find on the Pampas of Patagonia. 225 00:10:57,792 --> 00:10:59,626 Coiron. Mm mm. 226 00:10:59,626 --> 00:11:01,999 That's big, big clumping bay. 227 00:11:01,999 --> 00:11:05,125 The leaves of the coiron are very spiny. 228 00:11:05,125 --> 00:11:08,209 They end up in a sharp point and there's a new 229 00:11:08,209 --> 00:11:12,999 broad surface open to moisture loss through evaporation. 230 00:11:12,999 --> 00:11:14,999 Don't want to fall on those. No. 231 00:11:14,999 --> 00:11:18,626 Here we have the siete camisas. Pretty flower. 232 00:11:18,626 --> 00:11:19,584 Seven shirts. 233 00:11:19,584 --> 00:11:21,999 Yeah, well, it changes colors every time from 234 00:11:21,999 --> 00:11:23,459 pinkish to more reddish. 235 00:11:23,459 --> 00:11:25,999 Oh, I see, as a change of shirt, that's good. Yeah. 236 00:11:25,999 --> 00:11:31,999 This is the star bush in Patagonia. 237 00:11:31,999 --> 00:11:34,918 This is the Calafate bush. 238 00:11:34,918 --> 00:11:35,999 Named after the town. Right. 239 00:11:35,999 --> 00:11:38,209 Wait, the town was named after the bush. Right. 240 00:11:38,209 --> 00:11:39,167 And look here. 241 00:11:39,167 --> 00:11:40,999 Oh, there's the flower, there's the flower. 242 00:11:40,999 --> 00:11:41,999 So it's a yellow flower. Yeah. 243 00:11:41,999 --> 00:11:45,125 And we don't get to see it cause that's a few months earlier. 244 00:11:45,125 --> 00:11:47,667 And here we have the berries already ripening 245 00:11:47,667 --> 00:11:50,542 into that deep blue color that makes it so delicious 246 00:11:50,542 --> 00:11:51,999 to eat in the summertime. 247 00:11:51,999 --> 00:11:53,999 So these are edible, you guarantee me. 248 00:11:53,999 --> 00:11:55,626 Yes, and you should. Okay. 249 00:11:55,626 --> 00:11:58,584 I'll tell you why in a second. 250 00:11:58,584 --> 00:12:00,375 A little bit dried, feels like a raisin. 251 00:12:00,375 --> 00:12:03,459 Well, it's still got a few weeks to go for it to 252 00:12:03,459 --> 00:12:05,751 be really ripe. 253 00:12:05,751 --> 00:12:06,999 You said delicious? 254 00:12:06,999 --> 00:12:08,918 Give it a few weeks. 255 00:12:08,918 --> 00:12:12,334 Well, by that time it'll be well, well on its way. 256 00:12:12,334 --> 00:12:16,209 I can see that they're not poisonous immediately. 257 00:12:16,209 --> 00:12:19,876 No. But now you are going to come back to Patagonia 258 00:12:19,876 --> 00:12:21,999 because the story says that once you eat a berry 259 00:12:21,999 --> 00:12:25,459 from a calafate bush you'll come back to Patagonia. 260 00:12:25,459 --> 00:12:28,042 It wouldn't take all that much for me to come back. 261 00:12:28,042 --> 00:12:29,999 That's good. 262 00:12:29,999 --> 00:12:33,876 Between the calafate bush and the town of Calafate 263 00:12:33,876 --> 00:12:36,584 there's a lot of road to travel. 264 00:12:36,584 --> 00:12:40,999 500 kilometers of mostly empty land. 265 00:12:40,999 --> 00:12:44,042 And these hills are all scoured, 266 00:12:44,042 --> 00:12:46,250 just flattened out by the glacier. 267 00:12:46,250 --> 00:12:53,999 I think the last time it rained here was four months ago. 268 00:12:53,999 --> 00:12:58,125 Hey, a road sign. 269 00:12:58,125 --> 00:13:00,999 Look ahead, you can see the first of the ice 270 00:13:00,999 --> 00:13:02,542 coming out on the lake. 271 00:13:02,542 --> 00:13:04,709 My first freshwater iceberg. 272 00:13:04,709 --> 00:13:07,501 Oh, and it is that iridescent blue. 273 00:13:07,501 --> 00:13:09,417 Oh, great. 274 00:13:09,417 --> 00:13:15,459 Maybe we, if we go on we can see some more. 275 00:13:16,751 --> 00:13:19,501 So this is Calafate. 276 00:13:19,501 --> 00:13:19,959 Yeah. 277 00:13:19,959 --> 00:13:21,999 You know, it's not the prettiest town I've ever 278 00:13:21,999 --> 00:13:25,334 seen but maybe you can tell me why I should like it. 279 00:13:25,334 --> 00:13:28,292 Well, they have every amenity you can think of. 280 00:13:28,292 --> 00:13:30,501 Lodgings, restaurants, but you also have call 281 00:13:30,501 --> 00:13:36,999 centers, ATMs, banks, exchange shops, internet. 282 00:13:36,999 --> 00:13:38,083 Okay, good, there. 283 00:13:38,083 --> 00:13:39,999 Even bars with WiFi. 284 00:13:39,999 --> 00:13:43,501 They have WiFi in Calafate in Patagonia. 285 00:13:43,501 --> 00:13:45,709 Exactly, that's what I mean. 286 00:13:45,709 --> 00:13:46,459 That's great. 287 00:13:46,459 --> 00:13:47,999 Over here you can come with your trip already 288 00:13:47,999 --> 00:13:49,375 planned or you can start planning it here. 289 00:13:49,375 --> 00:13:51,000 There are any number of . There's 37 different 290 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:53,417 travel agencies that are willing to take you off in 291 00:13:53,417 --> 00:13:57,999 a trek, a climb, a ride, an exploration. 292 00:13:57,999 --> 00:14:01,125 Yeah, however adventurous you are or however laid 293 00:14:01,125 --> 00:14:02,999 back you are. 294 00:14:02,999 --> 00:14:06,459 I tried to come to L'agua Argentino, gosh, 295 00:14:06,459 --> 00:14:09,751 30 years ago and the guide book described it as a 296 00:14:09,751 --> 00:14:13,584 tiny little town that might or might not have services. 297 00:14:13,584 --> 00:14:14,334 So it's changed. 298 00:14:14,334 --> 00:14:16,375 And the big change has come about as a local 299 00:14:16,375 --> 00:14:19,584 airport that built in a lot of international 300 00:14:19,584 --> 00:14:23,459 tourism and really made this place the gateway 301 00:14:23,459 --> 00:14:24,999 into the glaciers. 302 00:14:24,999 --> 00:14:27,042 I mean, we have anywhere from over 1, 000 303 00:14:27,042 --> 00:14:31,417 people coming into the town and the glaciers. Every day. 304 00:14:31,417 --> 00:14:32,667 Every day during the season, 305 00:14:32,667 --> 00:14:37,584 anywhere from October to, through to Easter in, in April. 306 00:14:37,584 --> 00:14:38,459 It's a boom town. 307 00:14:38,459 --> 00:14:39,876 For better or for worse. 308 00:14:39,876 --> 00:14:41,792 Yeah. 309 00:14:41,792 --> 00:14:46,626 [drums] 310 00:14:46,626 --> 00:14:48,417 With increases in tourism the locals have 311 00:14:48,417 --> 00:14:50,999 seen opportunities to showcase their traditional 312 00:14:50,999 --> 00:15:01,999 music and dance before you take a walk on the glacier. 313 00:15:01,999 --> 00:15:09,250 [music] 314 00:15:09,417 --> 00:15:13,000 So what kind of a name is A la. Caloof. 315 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:16,542 That's the, the name of an Indian group of canoe 316 00:15:16,542 --> 00:15:18,792 Indians who lived in Tierra del Fuego, so, 317 00:15:18,792 --> 00:15:20,999 I mean, we're ca. not canoeing out but at least 318 00:15:20,999 --> 00:15:22,999 sailing out to the glacier. I see it. 319 00:15:22,999 --> 00:15:25,999 They've become a bit more sophisticated. 320 00:15:25,999 --> 00:15:28,667 The glacier Benita Morena is named after Francisco 321 00:15:28,667 --> 00:15:35,000 Moreno, a famous naturalist who lived in the 1800s. 322 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:38,584 As a very young man he came to this part of 323 00:15:38,584 --> 00:15:40,751 Patagonia trying to emulate the explorations 324 00:15:40,751 --> 00:15:43,584 of Darwin and Fitzroy and discovered the lake that 325 00:15:43,584 --> 00:15:46,834 feeds off this glacier. 326 00:15:46,834 --> 00:15:49,083 Look at the glacier. 327 00:15:49,083 --> 00:15:51,584 You can see all the pictures in the world but 328 00:15:51,584 --> 00:15:54,167 the reality is something else. I know. 329 00:15:54,167 --> 00:15:55,626 There's nothing that transmits 330 00:15:55,626 --> 00:15:57,584 the emotion, the wind, the cold in 331 00:15:57,584 --> 00:16:00,751 the scale of what we're seeing. 332 00:16:00,751 --> 00:16:03,584 The mountain go, peak goes down and suddenly it's, 333 00:16:03,584 --> 00:16:05,709 it goes straight down. 334 00:16:05,709 --> 00:16:07,459 Yeah, it's a glacial valley, yeah. 335 00:16:07,459 --> 00:16:09,834 Marks the point of how deep the ice once was. 336 00:16:09,834 --> 00:16:11,292 My god, that was deep. 337 00:16:11,292 --> 00:16:14,209 This is a very important water reservoir and the 338 00:16:14,209 --> 00:16:17,000 fact that this originated a million years ago and 339 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:20,959 continues to this day is a source of interest to 340 00:16:20,959 --> 00:16:23,584 glaciologists because especially at the end of 341 00:16:23,584 --> 00:16:27,125 the Ice Age they believe that any changes in the 342 00:16:27,125 --> 00:16:30,334 weather patterns here could lead to us knowing 343 00:16:30,334 --> 00:16:34,000 how contemporary weather patterns could be affected 344 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:36,250 by changes on a global level. 345 00:16:36,250 --> 00:16:40,209 So studying a phenomena of glaciations 11 to 15,000 346 00:16:40,209 --> 00:16:43,999 years ago is especially important. 347 00:16:43,999 --> 00:16:47,000 So the origin of a very interesting phenomena is 348 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:49,709 originated in southern Patagonia and that is 349 00:16:49,709 --> 00:16:52,250 known as the Patagonian ice field, 350 00:16:52,250 --> 00:16:54,999 the continental ice field, which is the third largest 351 00:16:54,999 --> 00:16:59,000 in the world after Antarctica and Greenland. 352 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:02,125 Looks to me as though a glacier's been here. 353 00:17:02,125 --> 00:17:04,375 Yeah, well, this scoured bedrock, 354 00:17:04,375 --> 00:17:07,501 it's probably not been uncovered that recently. 355 00:17:07,501 --> 00:17:10,999 But look, it's all rounded and gouged out by the ice. 356 00:17:10,999 --> 00:17:13,459 Look what the glacier left behind, 357 00:17:13,459 --> 00:17:15,999 another completely different rock here. 358 00:17:15,999 --> 00:17:19,751 Oh, yeah, that's from way, way far away. 359 00:17:19,751 --> 00:17:24,918 Aya ta ta ta ta. 360 00:17:24,918 --> 00:17:27,417 You look up there and it's psychedelic. 361 00:17:27,417 --> 00:17:30,292 So this is something out ofDuneor, 362 00:17:30,292 --> 00:17:33,501 it's not even Lord of the Rings. 363 00:17:33,501 --> 00:17:36,792 So have you ever been so close to the edge of a glacier? 364 00:17:36,792 --> 00:17:37,209 I never have. 365 00:17:37,209 --> 00:17:40,542 And I can't, I still can't tell how high that really is. 366 00:17:40,542 --> 00:17:44,751 It could be 100 feet, it could be a mile high. 367 00:17:44,751 --> 00:17:47,417 But still, I wouldn't go any closer. 368 00:17:47,417 --> 00:17:48,999 I don't think it's too safe. 369 00:17:48,999 --> 00:17:51,000 It's not fun when you're hit by a calf 370 00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:56,751 falling off and crushed by a million tons of ice? 371 00:17:56,751 --> 00:18:00,999 We're getting up to the place where we fit on our crampons 372 00:18:00,999 --> 00:18:05,042 God, these are almost medieval devices. 373 00:18:05,042 --> 00:18:06,999 So they're really heavy gauge steel. 374 00:18:06,999 --> 00:18:08,999 They're, they're serious footwear. 375 00:18:08,999 --> 00:18:13,292 Well, we need them to be a little bit heavy. 376 00:18:13,292 --> 00:18:15,209 So the people can't run. 377 00:18:15,209 --> 00:18:17,709 The reflection on the ice is also pretty bad. 378 00:18:17,709 --> 00:18:19,999 Oh, we gotta put, we gotta put goggles on 379 00:18:19,999 --> 00:18:20,999 our sunglasses, okay. 380 00:18:20,999 --> 00:18:23,334 Yes, something, because it kinda finds you but. 381 00:18:23,334 --> 00:18:24,999 I feel like I'm gonna walk like a duck. 382 00:18:24,999 --> 00:18:26,792 Part of the technique is like that. 383 00:18:26,792 --> 00:18:28,167 To walk like a duck. 384 00:18:28,167 --> 00:18:28,999 Like a duck. 385 00:18:28,999 --> 00:18:32,834 Well, I have plenty of practice walking like a duck. 386 00:18:32,834 --> 00:18:33,209 Okay. 387 00:18:33,209 --> 00:18:35,999 I think Carlos knows where he's going because 388 00:18:35,999 --> 00:18:37,417 I probably don't. 389 00:18:37,417 --> 00:18:40,834 And the glacier isn't flowing that quickly. 390 00:18:40,834 --> 00:18:46,959 So we're moving even as we speak. Yeah. 391 00:18:46,959 --> 00:18:50,999 Every snow field or glacier is advancing, 392 00:18:50,999 --> 00:18:54,417 sliding down hills because of gravity, 393 00:18:54,417 --> 00:18:59,209 their own weight of the ice or the snow is enough 394 00:18:59,209 --> 00:19:00,792 to make it move. 395 00:19:00,792 --> 00:19:07,000 So glaciers move at higher speed than snow fields. 396 00:19:07,375 --> 00:19:09,626 The dimensions of everything are different 397 00:19:09,626 --> 00:19:12,042 here and it looks as though it's a hundred 398 00:19:12,042 --> 00:19:15,250 miles away to the very highest point I can see. 399 00:19:15,250 --> 00:19:19,667 Or maybe it's just 200 yards, 300 yards, 400 00:19:19,667 --> 00:19:21,999 quarter of a mile, ten miles. 401 00:19:21,999 --> 00:19:22,918 Well, the crampons 402 00:19:22,918 --> 00:19:25,250 make you feel so safe you feel you could go on for 403 00:19:25,250 --> 00:19:28,999 those ten, hundred miles. 404 00:19:29,542 --> 00:19:30,959 Que hondo? 405 00:19:30,959 --> 00:19:32,584 The waterfall over there. 406 00:19:32,584 --> 00:19:34,999 It's almost as if you're in Venezuela at Angel 407 00:19:34,999 --> 00:19:36,999 Falls, the same formation. 408 00:19:36,999 --> 00:19:39,125 But they don't have glaciers underneath them there. 409 00:19:39,125 --> 00:19:42,667 No, or condor flying. Or condor flying up above. 410 00:19:42,667 --> 00:19:46,792 The sky's so blue it looks as if you could even dive into it. 411 00:19:46,792 --> 00:19:48,709 I don't think you should try but somehow the, 412 00:19:48,709 --> 00:19:51,792 the blue of the glacier and the blue of the sky 413 00:19:51,792 --> 00:19:53,292 just seem to merge. 414 00:19:53,292 --> 00:19:54,999 And the white of the clouds and the white of 415 00:19:54,999 --> 00:19:57,083 the glacier merge, you can't tell which begins 416 00:19:57,083 --> 00:19:59,918 and where the other ends. 417 00:19:59,918 --> 00:20:03,999 The snow accumulates over the southern Patagonia ice 418 00:20:03,999 --> 00:20:07,834 field very constantly along the year, 419 00:20:07,834 --> 00:20:09,999 more or less 9,000 millimeters of 420 00:20:09,999 --> 00:20:13,375 precipitation accumulate in the shape of snow. 421 00:20:13,375 --> 00:20:15,542 The fact that the ice field is not under 422 00:20:15,542 --> 00:20:19,626 extremely cold conditions and because of this it is 423 00:20:19,626 --> 00:20:23,876 possible for the vapor to move through the snow. 424 00:20:23,876 --> 00:20:27,501 The snow crystals freeze vapor and vapor moving 425 00:20:27,501 --> 00:20:31,167 through the snow will remodel the snow crystal, 426 00:20:31,167 --> 00:20:35,584 making them get fat and the more fat and dense 427 00:20:35,584 --> 00:20:40,999 they are, more close to be as ice. 428 00:20:40,999 --> 00:20:47,501 So that's the way the snow turns into ice. 429 00:20:47,999 --> 00:20:50,667 The ice on the surface, about 300 years old, 430 00:20:50,667 --> 00:20:58,417 400 years old, the ice of the base, the basal ice. 431 00:20:58,417 --> 00:21:00,417 Cascada. 432 00:21:00,417 --> 00:21:02,999 Amazing. 433 00:21:02,999 --> 00:21:06,000 How deep do they go, do they go all the way to the bottom? 434 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:08,334 All the way to the bottom, not always, 435 00:21:08,334 --> 00:21:11,250 because sometimes they connect with the gallery 436 00:21:11,250 --> 00:21:14,292 that would be more or less parallel to the surface. 437 00:21:14,292 --> 00:21:17,834 The easiest way out is what they'll find. Yes. 438 00:21:17,834 --> 00:21:22,999 Sometimes many kilometers the water travels inside 439 00:21:22,999 --> 00:21:27,999 the glacier until finding next hole that will 440 00:21:27,999 --> 00:21:30,542 connect the water with the bedrock. 441 00:21:30,542 --> 00:21:31,667 It's a labyrinth. 442 00:21:31,667 --> 00:21:33,999 It's just like that limestone up there. 443 00:21:33,999 --> 00:21:35,125 Yeah, like vines. Yeah. 444 00:21:35,125 --> 00:21:37,417 Sometimes the movement of the glacier don't let the 445 00:21:37,417 --> 00:21:41,042 water be flushed toward the bedrock. 446 00:21:41,042 --> 00:21:45,250 So the crevice is going to like a pool keeping 447 00:21:45,250 --> 00:21:46,417 the water inside. 448 00:21:46,417 --> 00:21:48,999 And then the pool makes it deeper, huh, itself? 449 00:21:48,999 --> 00:21:50,167 More or less. 450 00:21:50,167 --> 00:21:54,667 The bad thing about pools is after a very cold night 451 00:21:54,667 --> 00:21:59,999 they can get frozen on the surface and if it snows 452 00:21:59,999 --> 00:22:01,459 there's nowhere to hide it. 453 00:22:01,459 --> 00:22:03,709 Oh, so you can't tell that it's under there. Yes. 454 00:22:03,709 --> 00:22:07,584 I hate falling into those. 455 00:22:07,584 --> 00:22:09,792 So this whole mass we're walking on, 456 00:22:09,792 --> 00:22:11,999 how much is it moving a day? 457 00:22:11,999 --> 00:22:14,999 About one and a half meter per day. 458 00:22:14,999 --> 00:22:20,999 So it's moving about 5 feet a day. 459 00:22:21,792 --> 00:22:24,292 I like these nice little steps you're making, Carlos. 460 00:22:24,292 --> 00:22:27,209 It just makes life much easier. 461 00:22:27,209 --> 00:22:28,999 So why do we have a valley here? 462 00:22:28,999 --> 00:22:34,209 Well, because crevices are remodeled by the elements, 463 00:22:34,209 --> 00:22:36,999 the wind, the rain, the heat, 464 00:22:36,999 --> 00:22:39,083 the radiation of the sun will remodel the lift of 465 00:22:39,083 --> 00:22:44,209 the crevices and they'll begin to take these 466 00:22:44,209 --> 00:22:48,999 shapes, they start change their shapes. 467 00:22:48,999 --> 00:22:51,999 It's like the badlands in Utah. 468 00:22:51,999 --> 00:22:54,584 Look at the pool. by the pool. 469 00:22:54,584 --> 00:22:56,000 That water is amazing. 470 00:22:56,000 --> 00:22:58,709 What do you call these formations up here? 471 00:22:58,709 --> 00:23:00,083 The big chunks of ice. 472 00:23:00,083 --> 00:23:02,999 in a precarious balance are sarocks. 473 00:23:02,999 --> 00:23:04,167 Sarocks. 474 00:23:04,167 --> 00:23:06,667 These ice pinnacles 475 00:23:06,667 --> 00:23:10,792 that as the elements erode them they start to become 476 00:23:10,792 --> 00:23:15,167 weak and they can fall down eventually. 477 00:23:15,167 --> 00:23:15,792 Ooh, collapse. 478 00:23:15,792 --> 00:23:17,999 You don't want to go running around them in circles. 479 00:23:17,999 --> 00:23:19,125 No. Okay. 480 00:23:19,125 --> 00:23:21,459 That is the Matterhorn there is it not? 481 00:23:21,459 --> 00:23:22,375 More or less. 482 00:23:22,375 --> 00:23:26,667 Many shapes are like matterhorns here in the glacier. 483 00:23:26,667 --> 00:23:28,999 I think we better continue in that direction. 484 00:23:28,999 --> 00:23:31,375 Okay. Yes. You lead the way. 485 00:23:31,375 --> 00:23:34,417 I hate it when those sarocks fall and crush us all. 486 00:23:34,417 --> 00:23:37,999 Not so often inside the glacier, 487 00:23:37,999 --> 00:23:40,959 more often at the front where the glacier is 488 00:23:40,959 --> 00:23:44,792 pushing against the water and the water affects the 489 00:23:44,792 --> 00:23:49,584 front of the glass here to make it have the shape 490 00:23:49,584 --> 00:23:51,999 of the cliff. 491 00:23:51,999 --> 00:23:53,792 Now the highest point up here, 492 00:23:53,792 --> 00:23:58,667 how high is that above the L'agua Jintino? 493 00:23:58,667 --> 00:23:59,834 90 meters. Okay. 494 00:23:59,834 --> 00:24:01,042 About 300 feet. 495 00:24:01,042 --> 00:24:02,999 That's, that's a long way up. 496 00:24:02,999 --> 00:24:04,751 A lot of ice. Yes. 497 00:24:04,751 --> 00:24:06,626 It's a lot. 498 00:24:06,626 --> 00:24:09,709 Also, if you consider that under the water level 499 00:24:09,709 --> 00:24:13,501 more ice is present. 500 00:24:14,292 --> 00:24:16,125 A don perito Moreno. 501 00:24:16,125 --> 00:24:21,959 Salud. 502 00:24:21,959 --> 00:24:24,042 300 year old ice. 503 00:24:24,042 --> 00:24:26,999 You know when you get to a place on the glacier where 504 00:24:26,999 --> 00:24:28,709 you get this itch in your stomach, 505 00:24:28,709 --> 00:24:30,999 this stuff gets right down there and scratches it for 506 00:24:30,999 --> 00:24:35,292 you, after a tough day on the glacier. 507 00:24:35,292 --> 00:24:38,999 Buenos tardes. Buenos tardes. 508 00:24:38,999 --> 00:24:41,501 Visitors now throng to Patagonia, 509 00:24:41,501 --> 00:24:44,083 mostly to see the Andes, the lakes, 510 00:24:44,083 --> 00:24:46,999 and above all the glaciers. 511 00:24:46,999 --> 00:24:48,918 As sensational as these are, 512 00:24:48,918 --> 00:24:52,959 they constitute only a small portion of Patagonia. 513 00:24:52,959 --> 00:24:57,501 The rest remains pretty much as it was a century ago, 514 00:24:57,501 --> 00:25:01,667 a vast, empty land. 515 00:25:02,083 --> 00:25:04,083 Next time onThe Desert Speaks. 516 00:25:04,083 --> 00:25:06,999 Throughout Argentina's Patagonia region there's 517 00:25:06,999 --> 00:25:09,167 evidence of human habitation for thousands 518 00:25:09,167 --> 00:25:10,918 and thousands of years. 519 00:25:10,918 --> 00:25:14,125 .we're in, even in a transition sounds cold but we also have. 520 00:25:14,125 --> 00:25:16,999 The land is daunting but not without 521 00:25:16,999 --> 00:25:21,000 its beautiful side. 522 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:24,999 Current residents are proud of historic roots. 523 00:25:24,999 --> 00:25:31,459 and are not above good old fashioned rodeo. 524 00:25:31,999 --> 00:25:34,334 The last time I visited Buenos Aires in 2001 the 525 00:25:34,334 --> 00:25:37,542 Argentine economy took a severe hit. 526 00:25:37,542 --> 00:25:40,584 There was a massive devaluation of the 527 00:25:40,584 --> 00:25:43,792 currency which resulted in huge unemployment, 528 00:25:43,792 --> 00:25:48,125 loss of pensions and a disruption that caused 529 00:25:48,125 --> 00:25:51,375 many people to think they would never recover. 530 00:25:51,375 --> 00:25:53,876 But they love their country and somehow they 531 00:25:53,876 --> 00:25:56,501 kept working and today it's almost back to where 532 00:25:56,501 --> 00:26:01,999 it was in those very happy times of 2000, 2001. 533 00:26:02,083 --> 00:26:04,792 Funding for The Desert Speaks 534 00:26:04,792 --> 00:26:07,209 was provided by Desert Program Partners, 535 00:26:07,209 --> 00:26:11,751 representing concerned viewers making a financial commitment 536 00:26:11,751 --> 00:26:14,334 to the education about and preservation of deserts. 537 00:26:14,334 --> 00:26:18,626 And by the Stonewall Foundation. 538 00:26:20,167 --> 00:26:24,709 Copies of the Desert Speaks are available from KUAT. 539 00:26:24,709 --> 00:26:30,000 To order, call 1-800-841-5923 540 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:33,999 and please be sure to mention the episode number. 541 00:26:33,999 --> 00:26:41,626 For more information visitThe Desert Speaks on-line at this address.