Fitz Roy Inn El Chalten

... hotels we are greeted with pisco sours(South American special like lemon spicy Champagne) or Calafate (black berry) sloe like gin.. EVERY night the travel company provide a few bottles of (Red) Malbec- even in the remotest camping spot- the llamas carry it in for us. On another glacier walk the guide provided Baileys -on ICE for us-in beakers while we stood in crampons by a crevasse- and in one of the refugios they had a pisco sour (happy sour) hour from 7 ...

... few photos and a few seconds of footage, but my hands were practically frostbitten withing a few seconds. I would have loved to stay for hours but the wind was just insane... Like in Bariloche there were waves on the lagoon that wouldn't have looked out of place on an ocean, but unlike Bariloche this lagoon was only a few hundred metres long instead of about 100km! To have such big waves on such a tiny lagoon was very shocking and aweing for me.<br><br>So I headed ...

Arrived in El Calafate for a day spent doing nothing and caught a bus to El Chalten, the hiking capital of Argentina the next day for an overnight stay. Set up at the worst hostel ever where they charge you for toilet paper. Went on a 3 hour trek though light rain and mist and through some scary woods to a waterfall. Trekked up the mountain behind the waterfall for a bit and went back to the hostel. Learnt to cook ...

El Chalten is a small town in Santa Cruz , Argentina. It is a town that is literally embedded within mountains and is known as the trekking national of the world. Literally all there is to do there is trekking. El Chalten is a town inside the southern part of the glacier national park therefore you don't have to pay an entrance fee, and all trekking is free! The paths are well marked, and all the water is drinkable ( glacier water) I ...

... 00pm: Descent is ten times worse than the ascent.... i am in pain... people are passing us out every minute... i think i have pulled my hamstring..... i am thinking of emergency services... 4 ...

... matter, it was still a pleasant trek and view depsite the cloudy weather. When returning that evening my legs and feet were a tad achy and I figured out that I had walked about 14 miles (23 km or so). So yes when I say a shorter one, I mean shorter than the Fitzroy hike. Tuesday, I awoke to prestene walking conditions. The sky was a beautiful shade of bright blue and crystal cear. |Not a cloud in sight ...

... staying the first night. I was shown into a four bed dorm with an attractive French girl on one of the bunks. Things are looking up, I thought, until her boyfriend arrived a few minutes later. Supper in the Refugio and drinking beers with a group from the Czech Republic one of whom proved a star on the guitar. Next morning up and off on my own along well marked trails along to the French Valley. Met several friendly people along the way ...

... some laundry, before we start having to wear all our clothes inside out!<br><br>It was a bit of a saga (which I will mercifully spare you from, dear reader), but save to say that we developed an intimate knowledge of the streets of El Chalten, managing to include diversions to the tourist office, bank, various internet providers and a bakery to ...

... expensive) internet connection for a few minutes to update the blog and check the Liverpool &amp; Chelsea CL results before collapsing in our basic but really comfy room. <br><br>It was so nice having some space after being cooped up in a bus for 2 full days.<br><br>We have very little to show for the last couple of days and we didn't really ...