El Calafate und El Chalten

---

hello again.
this is slightly outdated, but we have been with out a proper internet connection and most importantly without time. I'll give it a go and see what I can remember...

We arrived in El calafate after yet another long bus trip at night. We found our hostel on top of a hill and relaxed with a beer and some cards. The next morning we looked out one of the many large windows and saw snow capped mountains, a massive lake and a small village down below. Beautiful.
We decided to use the first day to explore the village and then the following day (Sunday) to do a boat trip around the largest lake in Argentina, lake argentino. After a short stroll we managed to find some flamingos resting in a nearby lake/pond but that aws the only highlight.
The next day we were up at the crack of dawn, got picked up from the guide company and an hour later we arrived at the entrance to the los glaciers national park . The entrance fee being ten times more than locals pay, which in generall is a nice idea but 10x? We paid 60$ARG for entrance, where, well you can do the maths.... We embarked on a catamaran full of old age pensioners and familys. Our first thought was "shit this is going to be really boring" but we were proved wrong in the end.
The boat can go up to 30 knots, the lake is at an altitude of +185m above see level, and it was winter. Which meant that all the old people stayed in doors and we had the whole decks for ourselfs (and a few other younger people).
We cruised around the lake for a total of 7h with the sun shining, clear sky and wonderful views of Glaciers.
The first one we visited was the Upsala Glacier. This one is the largest in the national park and is also the fastest retreating glacier. Due to this we could only view it from a distance(aprox. 5Km) as the boat had problems maneuvering through the huge ice bergs.
We then continued our journey around the cristal blue&green lake, which lies between mountains covered in snow, towards a docking point to disembark and have lunch at the lake Onelli. (See pick below)


Then after traveling 1 hour through this painting like scenery we arrived at the Spegazzini Glacier, the highest point reaching up to 140m above the water level. We parked 250m - 500m and watched with pure amazment the ice blocks breaking away and falling into the water creating a thunder like sound.


The next day we were up early to visit the Perito Moreno Glacier . Here we had a tour booked to go trekking and have lunch on the glacier.
We walked along the side of the Glacier for aprox. 1h towards a camp where we recived ourcrampons and harnesses. After a short briefing on saftey we made our way onto the ice.
We walked up and down ice hills, using the crampons and walking techniques the guides showed us (one looks like a fool, but atleast your not they only fool), we visited ponds and drank the water, and had a fun time. It is one of those things that you only need to do once in life but you must do it once.
Ending the tour we had a boat trip up to the front of the glacier and we recived Whiskey with Glaciers ice. Which was perfect after a 5h trek with the heaviy glaciers and a no smoking rule.

---

We then headed to a place called El chalten, this small (tiny) village lies on the nothern part of the national park and is the best place for trekking in Argentina.
Arriving and seeing that it was snow and a very low visibility, we decided to stay in doors and wait for the following day. As the evening came it looked as it had cleared up, so we put on our thermals, rain coats and wolly hats and made our way on a walk. After reaching the peak of one hill a sudden snow front hit us and we had to return.
The next morning we were up early and hoping to get some good weather. This didnt work out, it was raining and cold. Oh well after travelling 4hours to get here, we were not going to stay inside and wait, so off we went up hills an through valleys only being able to see as far as 50m. The walk we were doing was going to lead us up to laguna torre, where apparently there is a wonderful view of Cerro Torre with a laguna at its feet which is feed by a glacier. After two hours of walking, the weather changed for a worse (view wise), snow picked up and the visibility droped.
Still we decided to carry on, and after half an hour the snow stopped and it was quiet clear. We wanted to get to the laguna in time, we rushed along and saw a sign post pointing over a hill with 5mins remaining written on it. Just as we started to climb this final slope the snow started, as we reached the top we spoke to some aussies we meet before "hey, the views fantastic. Hurry up and you might get a glimps before the snow blocks everything"
As Ii turned out we were only able to see the opposite shore and this only lasted 3min before everything was white agian.
We returned slightly dissapointed and tired to the hostel and played some cards. Outside it was still snowing and countinued all night.

The following morning we dressed up again in our thermals and went out side. Surprised to see a clear blue sky, we set of towards a view point for Fitz Roy . After a energie draining 1 1/2 hours walk up a mountain and through the woods, fighting our way through the fresh, sometimes knee high snow, we arrived at a view point.
This was one of the best views I´ve seen so far. The trees were old and trees seemed to be out of an J.R.R. Tolkien book, fresh snow with barely any footprints in it covered the ground with black jagged bolders peeking through the white sheet, a lake semi-frozen lake sparkling under the morning sun, and the mountain 100%!v(MISSING)isible with a few clouds breaking off its peak.
We enjoyed theçis fantastic view for some time, as we didnt get any views the other days. We had a snow ball fight and even made a massive snow man down by the lake.
After this we returned happy and tired towards our bus back to El calefate, where we stayed a night and then left towards Chile!...

---