Hiking in El Chalten
Trip Start
Unknown
1
11
19
Trip End
Ongoing
El Chalten,
Patagonia,
Argentina
Friday, April 18, 2008
The day after, we headed for El Chalten. We had to make sure we had enough cash before we went as there are no banks or ATMs there. I couldn't quite believe how small El Chalten is. It's tiny. Basically, one long street with some side streets. I thought that Calafate was a small town but Chalten is smaller. We stayed at Nothafagus B&B, a nice cosy place. It worked out 8 pounds each per night including breakfast. We found a cute restaurant/cafe down the road and I tried a Patagonian stew. Perfect for warming us up in the cold rain.
The next day we went hiking to Mt Fitz Roy. It was cloudy but dry. The trail was nice,everything we saw was beautiful. We didn't get to see the Fitz Roy but it was still a lovely hike. We walked from town along the Laguna de los tres trail (4 hours one way) to Campamento Poincepont. We bumped into a couple of American girls who had hiked from El Pilar. They drove to El Pilar and then hiked to the same spot. It took them 3 hours and they'd seen a glaciar and icebergs. We thought we'd seen the same glaciar as them so we decided to take another trail back into town. Along the way, a German guy appeared from the trees. His trousers were wet up to the knees. He said that he was trying to go across the river to climb up the hills. The water was icy cold. It was entertaining meeting this very adventurous guy. He went off running back into town but later we met him again and showed us the hill he had just been up. Then he ran off again cos he was getting cold.
The day after we took a taxi to El Pilar to do the hike the girls had done. It cos 70 pesos, not too bad. When we got out of the taxi, we were greeted by the cutest cat. She was so affectionate and adorable. She followed us for a while and were glad when she stopped as we weren't going back to El Pilar. We were worried that she'd get lost in the forest and get lost. It was our favourite hike. You could see all the mountains including the Fitz Roy. The autumn leaves were different shades of red and orange. It was such a lovely contrast to the shades of blue of the glaciar. We walked back down Laguna de los tres trail into town.
On our last day, Jim decided to hike to Laguna Torre before our evening bus ride back to Calafate. I opted out of the 6 hour hike. My left ankle was feeling strained. I think I strained it in a tango class. I wanted to rest it as I knew we'd be hiking a lot in Torres Del Paine. At first I was relaxing at Nothafagus but quickly got bored so I went to walk around town but there was nothing much open. The only thing to do is to hike around. I decided to do a short easy hike. I just walked an hour and a half out of town.
It was so peaceful. I soon got tired and didn't want to be too far away from town anyway. My imagination goes a bit wild. I don't like being in forests by myself. Besides, Jim wouldn't have know where I went to. I decided to go up a hill like the German guy we had met. Along the way, I saw a condor. I've captured it on camcorder. The view of the town and mountains from the hill was cool. By the time I got back to Nothafagus, Jim was already there. We headed for the microbrewery for some delicious food before heading back to Calafate.
The next day, we went to Puerto Natales, Chile. Everywhere was so sparse and eventually we stopped at a petrol station where you could get something to eat and drink. The wind was crazy. I was getting pushed by the wind. The border crossings were tedious. Exit Argentina, drive for a bit and then enter Chile. I'm running out of space in my passport so whenever the immigration officials are about to stamp my passport I'm like 'stop, can you stamp it here please'. They seem to love stamping a new page otherwise which now I have none. One couple had some sort of wooden statue confiscated. The cutom official I went through opened one pocket of my rucksack and then let me go. He then went off for a siesta and poor Jim had to wait for his turn with the strict official.
