Wow! What a busy last week we've had.
Before leaving El Calafate to head to El Chalten for some trekking, we thought we would be typically touristy and decided to partake in a little glacier trekking. So, we headed out to Perito Moreno (the biggest glacier in the area - we don't do things by halves) firstly to take a look at the beast from the view point and then to don some crampons and take to the ice. What can we say... it was spectacular! We've posted some pics but it's so hard to get the impression of the size of this thing to you. On our way to the base camp we had to cross the lake so we were lucky enough to experience the glacier from the water too, which was incredible. It was so eery listening to the creaking and crashing of the ice breaking within the glacier - we even experienced a couple of large breakages which caused a little havoc in the water (although not while we were on the boat!).
The ice trekking itself was an amazing experience. With some stone age crampons we walked for a couple of hours on the ice, over crevasses and peeking into some impressive melt water holes. To finish in true style, our guide cracked open a bottle of whisky and poured it over some 400 year old ice to share with us, along with some alfajores (the local delicacy which we may have become addicted to!).
The next day we headed out to El Chalten (Trekking capital of Argentina) to spend four days camped by a lake and walking the local trails in the mountains. It's a bit of a tourist hot spot, but that certainly didn't take anything away from the views, which were breathtaking! It was a pretty arduous trek to base camp with our big packs and extra food for our stay, but we made it in the end and it was so worth it.
After our first blissful night sleep in our home away from home we headed out to reach Lago de Los Tres and see some truly spectacular views of Mount Fitz Roy (the tall one in the middle). The last hour of the trek was a practically vertical ascent over unstable ground with mad Argentines rushing past you at a hundred miles per hour to get back to the bottom, but when we reached the top we were confronted by two vivid blue lakes fed by crystal clear waters from the melt water of the local glaciers. The snow-capped mountains were so close we felt like we could touch them!
The incredibly beautiful weather was unseasonal and lasted the entire duration of our stay (so much for the unpredictability of Patagonian weather! - we might regret saying this!). The next day we attempted a second 8 hour round trek to see yet more stunning lakes, mountains and scenery. Our feet may be sore and blistered and our backs hate us, but it was a fantastic trip and just left us wanting more.
We're back in El Calafate for one night before heading out to Rio Gallegos tomorrow in the hope of maybe doing some penguin spotting. Fingers crossed! And we'll keep you posted. Greetings to everyone back home, hope you are enjoying the British winter and keep in touch.
Tim and Lucy xxx
p.s. We love receiving your comments and any suggestions (with instructions) for two player card games would be much appreciated... apparently you can only play so many games of rummy!
