El Chalten Hotels
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Walking in the Andes
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Alex: El Chalten was a necessary stop as it is the only place we can get the bus from up to Los Antiguos where we plan to cross over into Chile, but it was also a really good stop. It is a mecca for mountain climbers who come to attempt Fitz Roy, apparently one of the most difficult climbs in the world and I can understand why, it is just a massive, glacier capped tower of granite. The area also attracts hoards of hikers too, because the scenery is stunningly beautiful. We had 3 days before our bus to Los Antiguos so decided to tackle 2 of the most popular day hikes.
Our first hike was on a beautiful day with hardly a cloud in the sky headed to Lago del Torres a glacier fed lake sitting below Cerro Torres and Cerro Solo. The hike took us up to a mirador where we got our first view of the mountains plus a sneak peak at the top of Fitz Roy. All the way from that point as we cut through forests and along perfectly clear and pure streams we had this spectacular view in front of us. Despite having had this view for 2 hours getting to the lake was still impressive, the sky cleared to a cloudless deep blue and for the first time we got a completely unobscured look at the Cerro Torres and the glaciers below them. We hung around there until we got cold (glaciers - they do this to you) and then headed back, glancing back occasionally at the spectacle we had left behind. Very relaxing, beautiful and most importantly warm.
As we aren't that fit, we decided to have the next day "off" just to chill out and do important jobs like wash clothes and test out the local microbrews! We ended up going out for quite a few beers and food with some guys from our hostel and then sitting out with a bottle of wine looking at the stars. We got up on our third day to more sun but also a lot of wind and for the first time Fitz Roy was obscured - damn, this was the day we were doing the hike to Fitz Roy base camp. We headed out anyway. The scenery was equally as beautiful as on our first hike but just with the unwelcome addition of some threatening looking clouds in the distance. We did most of the hike but just missed out the difficult steep bit at the end where you get the really good view of Fitz Roy partly because it started to rain and partly because we couldn't see Fitz Roy! We managed to out run the rain and had a really nice day and at times the scenery was so perfect I felt like I was walking in a postcard.
We are heading up to Los Antiguos tomorrow, possibly our last stop in Argentina, which is sad. I can't imagine the we won't be back though, this is a fantastic country - did I mention the wine is good too? More thumbnails ...
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