Not once during the first 4 months of our trip did we think we would end up in... Patagonia!!! From Portes Natales, Chile we boarded a bus for the small town of El Calafate, Argentina. Even though we’ve crossed many borders by now I still get anxious. What do we do if they don’t let us through? But of course, everything was fine. Suddenly, and unceremoniously, we were in Argentina! On the drive we passed dry brush with mountains in the background. Four hours later, El Calafate. This mountain town reminded us Jackson Hole or maybe a bigger Park City.
We made new friends on the bus and joined them at a brewery for decent beer(s) and one delicious lamb stew. A few hours later we met them again for an Argentine buffet dinner with plenty of Malbec to go around. We figured out the next morning that it may have been a little too much Malbec., but it was a fun night nevertheless.
The next day we got up bright and early to see the star of El Calafate, the Perito Moreno Glacier. This is the only glacier in the world that continues to grow; 2 meters a day. This allows us tiny humans to get close to this large, natural wonder. It’s hard to put into words how awesome this glacier is. It’s huge! Parts of the ice are strikingly blue. We spent hours walking near the glacier and hoping to see chunks fall off into the lake, aka calving. It was a windy day but the sun was out providing beautiful views of the glacier. It really felt like a dream. We ended the day with some amazing empanadas and we both agree that it was one of our best days yet.
The next stop on our Patagonia adventure was El Chalten, the hiking capital of Patagonia. A three hour drive took us along more dry brush, small hills and giant, snow capped mountains. When we arrived in El Chalten it was rainy and cloudy. It was impossible to see the mountains that this area is famous for, but we decided to go on a hike anyway. It was pouring and windy by the time we reached the trail head so we waited it out near the trail map. The sun finally came out and we hiked to a gorgeous waterfall. A great way to stretch our legs before the real hiking began.
We spent the next 4 days doing most of the hikes in the area. We hiked 20 kilometers round trip to the famous Fitz Roy mountain. This trail was beautiful and not too challenging until the final kilometer straight uphill, in the snow. We did the 18 kilometer round trip hike to Cerro Torre twice. Our first time it was cold and snowy. With all the clouds we never actually saw Cerro Torre, though we did see a glacier. The second time was on a beautiful sunny day with great views of Cerro Torre and Fitz Roy. We also snuck in a short uphill hike to see condors, lakes and a panoramic view of El Chalten. On our way down we got lucky and ran across two armadillos and a beautiful fox.
El Chalten was a funny little town. It’s full of hostels/hotels, restaurants and a few souvenir shops. It was a great place to call home for a few nights. Our time in Patagonia was priceless! The weather turned out to be amazing, the hikes were long and tiring but the views were truly inspiring. We are so glad we made it down.
