Wait....wasn't this last year's trip?

Last year at Christmas we had the good fortune to take our ultimate bucket list trip to Antarctica.  That trip was phenonemal, and on Christmas Day we went kayaking inside a calderra surrounded by Antarctic beauty.  I guess we didn't get our fix of ice and glaciers because this year's Christmas Day adventure was taking a three-hour catamaran cruise across Grey Lake to see Grey Glacier up close and personal.

Grey Glacier is part of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, which is the second-largest ice field after Antarctica.  About 85% of this ice is in Chile and the remainder in Argentina. Unfortunately, like most of the other glaciers we have had the good fortune to see around the world, it has retreated significantly due to global warming.

After two long days of hiking, we knew we needed a break so no hiking today.  We did have a full day of adventure and gorgeous scenery driving from the east side of the park to the west side and back again.  Some of our Christmas Day adventures:

• Coming across a Chilean gaucho and three of his herding dogs trying to corral a lone sheep that had gotten outside the fence.  They were next to the road, and we had to stop the car to avoid hitting them.  The dogs then used our car to trap the sheep at the back as we heard a soft thud from the trunk. The sheep just laid down cowering as we drove away, and the gaucho scooped it up and put it on the other side of the fence.

• Giving a hiker from Switzerland a ride back to his car.  He did the "W" circuit with some friends and he drew the short straw to go back and get their car. He figured he would have lots of opportunity to hitch a ride, but soon realized there really weren't many people driving through the park.  We saved him at least 10 miles.

• Having a scavenger hunt photographing all of the unique "Deer Crossing" signs, except they weren't for deer.  They were for guanacos, armadillos, and my personal favorite -- the ostrich.  That's right,
  
  we saw signs along the road warning us to look out for giant running birds.  The South American ostrich is called a Rhea. We also saw a sign for pumas.  Mona's take -- since they're telling us to watch out for pumas, we should at least be able to see one.  We did not.  There was also a sign featuring a wind sock, which I guess is a universal sign for high winds and not that one might cross the road in front of you.

• Taking an unplanned detour to catch a waterfall with the Towers in the background.  Made us late for our lunch reservation, but totally worth it.

• Winning Mona a free cocktail on the boat for correctly answering a trivia question on the journey back from the glacier.  How deep is Grey Lake??  480 meters.

Probably the best stop of today's driving adventure was capturing this photo.  Awesome.