My final glacier, my final camping trip!

So ... it was after a day of rest in Puerto Natales after the big ´W´walk, that we headed across the border, again, this was crossing number five at this point! We arrived at the town of El Calafate, which is a town that is built solely on the basis of the Perito Moreno glacier that is nearby!

Catching up with Emma and Andrew in El Calafate
It was great timing that my old flat mate from London, Emma, was also in Calafate with Andrew on the same day we arrived! So of course that evening we met up for a drink and a traditional argentinian parrilla, the huge all-you-can-eat bbq that can be found everywhere here. It was definitely a random catch-up and made my stay in Calafate very memorable!

Seeing the world famous glacier
The Perito Moreno glacier is probably the most famous glacier in the world, mostly due to its regular and dynamic changes that produce spectacular ice falls from the front walls that are visible to the public! So, although we were getting to the stage where we were a bit ´glaciered out´... Perito Moreno was a must-see, so we jumped on board the bus and joined the throng of tourists heading out to view the glacier spectacle.

We also decided to do the boat trip around the glacier, which meant we got to see the icefalls up quite close. But definitely the best view for me was from the walk-ways that were quite elevated above the glacier, giving a fantastic view and allowing a perspective of the length and depth of this massive glacier, something I hadn't seen before. The ice falls were frequent and massive and brought back memories of our glacier experience on the navimag, with the deafening noise as the chunks of ice crash down into the lake.

Off trekking again ... this time to see Mt Fitzroy in nearby El Chaltén
We hadn't quite finished with the whole camping and trekking experience yet, so the next day, we headed off to nearby El Chaltén to conquer the famous Mt Fitzroy, which I suppose is Argentina´s equivalent of Torres del Payne.

El Chaltén is a tiny tiny town of only about three or four streets, there is no cash-point within a four hour driving radius and the dirt roads through town, combined with the gale force winds create a very pleasant dust storm to greet you as you try to make your way down the main street!

However, the town and its people are so endearing and we quickly made friends with the local butcher, from whom we bought some lovely lamb and steak that we cooked up for dinner back at the hostel that night, some of the nicest meat we've had in all of Argentina!

Cooking and camping in the snow ...
So, on the day we were to set off trekking to Mt Fitzroy, it was raining, overcast, windy and generally pretty miserable, so we had our doubts. But after walking around town and seeing a few brave trekkers heading off into the mountains, we decided to tough it also and proceeded to get ready for a night of camping at the Mt Fitzroy base camp.

On the way to the first camp we met up with Nick and Carol again, who´d been in our hostel the night before. So we all trekked, camped and shivered together as we persevered in cooking as the snow flakes drifted down around us. It was definitely nothing like anything I´ve done before! Carol and I kept ourselves warm by doing step-ups onto some logs in the campsites. I had a little routine of stirring the cooking pot, then doing 50 step-ups, then checking the pasta again. It was the only way to keep some degree of warmth in my body!! And I think the coldest my hands have ever been was just after dinner when I was using the freezing cold river water to wash our cooking pot ... my hands felt like they were about to fall off, they went bright red and it was a long time before I got any sensation back in them!

So ... not long after dinner, we were forced to take refuge in the tent, and I went to bed VERY sceptical that we would have any view, other than clouds, over Mt Fitzroy the next day!

But what a suprise ...
At dawn Pete got up for a bit of a check of the weather to see whether it was worth it to do a sunrise trek to the viewpoint. But the conditions were just like the night before, so I snuggled up in my sleeping bag for another few hours kip ...

However, upon crawling out of the tent very late, around 9.30am or so ... I was completely suprised to see that the conditions had changed so dramatically. There was only brillant blue sky to be seen and there was Mt Fitzroy in all her glory, in the space above the campsite where only grey clouds were hovering the afternoon before.

So, we quickly cooked breakfast and then powered up the hill to the viewpoint in case the conditions changed again! The climb up was actually quite tough, much harder than any trekking I'd done in Torres Del Payne, but again, it was definitely worth it for the magical view at the top. Not only was Fitzroy there in all her glory, but also there was a beautiful lake and a fresh virgin snow all around. We hung out at the top for quite a while, shared our amazement with Nick and Carol at the change in conditions and beauty of the place.

We then continued doing a bit of a loop with the trail and headed back into town that night after about 7 hours of trekking, ready for a shower and a nice meal! So sadly, this is end of my glacier and camping adventures, as my long trip draws to an end.

That night, we had to hang around in El Calafate until 3am to catch a bus to the end of the world, Ushuaia. We were trying to find bars and restaurants that stayed open late, but finally we gave up and headed to the bus station, where thankfully I managed to have a little kip while Pete kept guard, sitting upright of course, as the army dude prohibited me from lying down on the seat to sleep, talk about crazy rules!

Anyway, the next blog will be coming from tierra del fuego (the land of fire) at the most southern point of the continent.

Hasta la proxima, Tamara :)

---

---