Stop 1: El Chalten
ARGENTINA | Thursday, 3 April 2008 | Views [201]
Was our first stop the best? I don't know. You'll have to read about all five places before coming to a final decision. For Trish, it was. For me, it was a very, very close second.
For background, El Chalten is a extremely small hiking outpost that was created in 1985 at the foot of Cerro Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre. People come from all over to hike (or trek as the Patagonians call it) and chill in the tiny town.
We bussed it from El Calafate (about 5 hours south of El Chalten and where the airport is)on remarkably clear day, which is rare, considering the area only has about five totally clear days a year. For the last two hours of the trip, we were treated to some of the most amazing views that I have ever seen. What makes Patagonia different from other places in the world is that the popular locations are surrounded by a flat nothingness that streches as far as the eye can see. This has the effect of making the mountain ranges, lakes, and glaciers stand out more dramatically against the landscape. I found myself staring out the window for two hours watching range of Mt. Fitz Roy and Poincenot, Torre and Solo, and the ranges in between grow larger and larger every minute.
When we finally reached the town, which is actually set within the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares, we had lost our view. El Chalten is so close to the mountains that the smaller foothills block all views except for the tips of Fitz Roy and Poincenot. Every other building was in the process of being built. It was our first exposure to the booming tourism industry that has engulfed the region over the past few years. Even with all the construction, El Chalten still holds onto its outpost mentality.
What made El Chalten so great, was access. You literally walked out of town and onto the trails. All the trail heads originate in the town. Although we didn't really know it at the time, not having to board a bus and be sheparded to the park, was a great benefit. We arrived pretty late in the afternoon and decided to wait until the next day to trek. After settling into our B&B, we wandered back toward the main street and found ourselves in a small microbrewery.
The brewery became our home for most of our stay in El Chalten. The beer was excellent and they served free nuts and popcorn (which was great, even if we all know that it is served to make us want to buy more beer). It was also a restaurant and served some pretty good food, we had the traditional Argentine locro stew one night. We spent that first evening deciding which hikes we would do over the next three days. In the end, it felt good to have it planned out, but as we learned, plans quickly change in Patagonia.
The first morning, we woke up early and headed off to do one of the most popular treks, a stroll to the base of Cerro Fitz Roy. The weather was OK, patchy clouds, and it might be the best we would have, so we wanted to do the main trek in the area. We walked to the edge of town and started going the hike. The first three hours of the trek were great, wandering through forest valleys and along river beds. There was some significant climbing at the beginning, but the majority was pretty tame. The last hour plus was a bit different. Basically 500 meters straight up over loose rock and dirt. We were both dying after about twenty minutes. The remaining hours was a bit of a haze until we reached the ridge. In front of us was Mt. Fitz Roy and Poincenot with a glacial lake at the base. It made the pain worth it (see pictures).
Going down was a different story. Trish tweaked her knees and it took us some time to make it back. When we finally arrived back to town it was dusk and there was some serious pain. We decided right there to modify our plans, take it easy the next day, and hopefully feel good for the other major hike in the area, to the base of Cerro Torre.
As we had predicted, the weather never cleared up again and we had clouds and a bit of rain on our Cerro Torre hike. Trish found some hiking poles and we set off up into the hills and through the forests to the base. The mountain was covered in clouds the entire day, but we did come across another glacial lake at the base. We trekked along a narrow path closer to the glacier that feeds the lake and discovered hidden waterfalls. As we sat and had our lunch in complete solitude, you could literally see the rain and clouds building over the mountain. We hurried back down, only to see a huge rainbow arc appear over the lake as the sun came out again. This complete 180 in the weather is so typical of Patagonia, rain and clouds and rainbows and sun, all in the same minute. We finished up the hike with plenty of time to spare for more beers at the pub.
Chalten is an odd place: every other person is a trekker and the rest live there solely to provide services to that person. It must be one of the last places on earth where, as we pleasantly discovered, you can still drink the water right out of the stream and not get sick. And forget Figi and Dasani and Evian, this stuff is the real deal and FREE. Bum knees aside, it was a great way to begin.
Tags: the great outdoors
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