Mountains. Meat. Beer. Repeat.

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I had a very poor sleep on my last night in El Calafate. Someone in my room had a phone that would beep every minute. I think maybe the battery was dying, but it didn't seem to disturb him. Just me. I only managed to sleep for a couple of hours before it drove to a couch in the common area.

So naturally I slept half of the three and a half hour bus ride to El Calafate to try and make up for it. I would have slept for the other half as well, but it was a clear day without a cloud in the sky, and that meant spectacular views of the Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre from the bus. And these are two geological features that don't really make any sense compared to what's around them.

Cerro Torre's spires stick straight up and down and are impossibly narrow, while the Fitz Roy looks like... uh... a giant dinosaur hand punching into the sky well above the mountains around it.... maybe? Not the best description, so just look at the pictures. Breathtaking, no matter how you (try to) describe it. Ask a geologist, I don't know,

The bus stopped at the park gate and we were given an introduction to the park by the park wardens. Since all of the water comes straight from glaciers, you can drink the water straight from the streams. Also... there are pumas (which I think are the same as or similar to cougars), but they're also so rare that they don't even know where they are or how many are in the park.

They gave some other info as well, but I was mostly thinking about how I didn't have a place to stay yet, and wanted to get looking. I had checked the internet back in Calafate and most places that I saw had looked booked up. So I had the address of a Hosteria (code word for very cheap hotel) that I headed towards. But on my way there, I saw about a dozen hostels, so I just started checking. I must have arrived during a siesta or something, because some had no one inside at all. I found one with a bed for a very cheap price (around $10/night) and dropped my bag.

It wasn't the most beautiful hostel I'd ever seen, but it had a kitchen, and the price was right. I also met some really nice Irish girls and a Chilean guy, so the company would be good. Mostly I was just excited to be able to drop my bag and try to fit in a full day hike in the afternoon, and take advantage of the perfect weather.

I booked it up the trail to Cerro Torre, and wow was it ever worth it! It looked incredible from the highway, but it's just awesome to be standing right beneath it. I met a girl from Norway and a guy from Montana that I had a good chat with at the end of the hike. They eventually headed down, and I was alone to enjoy the solitude and the spectacular scenery.

After some quiet reflection, and listening to a couple of LCD Soundsystem songs (awesome), I headed back down, and had a brief chat with a girl from Colorado (originally from New Brunswick) and passed off the solitude torch to her. It was late in the afternoon now, so she was likely going to be the last one up there. Actually, I thought I was going to the the last one up, but not quite I guess.

I made it down the mountain as quick as I could and made dinner at the hostel. Brett had emailed me and said he'd be at a bar known among the climbing crowd, so I headed off there. Laura and Kiera (the Irish girls) joined us.

The bar was pretty close to empty and, I think it was only open for the football game (world cup qualifying), so we had to leave when it was over after only one drink. We landed at La Vinaria, which was actually better. There was a freezer full of micro brews, and a wall of wine. Argentina may not be known for its craft beer, but it probably should be.

We realized we were all from underdog countries. New Zealand, Canada, and Ireland all live in the shadow of a bigger brother. We decided it made us better people... or builds character, something. We had a brief discussion about the enormous size of Canada, Kiera and Laura's experiences as contract workers for Facebook and Google, and made plans to meet back there the next night, and left very late and rather drunkenly.

The next morning I woke up with a slight headache that I totally deserved, but I knew I should go hiking anyways. It was pretty cloudy and threatening rain, but I decided to hike up to Laguna Los Tres to see the Fitz Roy up close. I was betting on the clouds lifting or clearing off enough that I'd get a good view.

So far on these hikes I've found that the hikes around here take less time than posted, and the trails have been pretty flat for the most part.

I actually ran into John at the lookout point about an hour into the hike! So there's a coincidence. He was debating weather to turn back since it wasn't clear, and things looked like they were going to get worse weather wise. I told him to meet us at La Vinaria in the evening, and I carried on.

This got worse, but not immediately. After a long flat section, there was a long step section of switchbacks that took about an hour to do. At the top, it started to spit rain, and got windy. I had to layer up, but all the sweating I had done had made me a little cold. I hid behind a rock to eat my lunch and warm up. I waited for the clouds to clear, and they did a bit, and I got nice views of the Fitz sort of shrouded by clouds. I stayed up there about an hour, took a lot of pictures as different parts of the Fitz exposed themselves.

On the way down, the weather continued to clear up, but it never fully exposed itself.

I made myself another (now traditional) large pasta dinner and headed back to La Vinaria to meet up with Brett and John... except I couldn't find it. I'd lost the bar. I luckily ran into Brett and John on the main street heading toward the bar... which is literally down the street from the hostel I'm staying in. It was embarrassing. I got made fun of.

Joining Brett and John was Erin, who was actually the girl form Colorado that I'd met on the trail to Cerro Torre the day before. Small town. She's a nurse, and has done a bunch of work in Africa. She also climbed an active volcano (with a lava pool and everything) and crossed the border into the Congo illegally to do it. Basically she's a total badass.

But back to me losing the bar. I wasn't the only one who was impaired the night before. I found out that Brett also had a headache in the morning, and needed the extra sleep that Erin (his climbing partner for the day) had allowed him. Kiera had tripped on a pipe while leaving, so she literally fell out of the bar. We obviously drank more that night than originally planned. But everyone else remembered where the bar was, so they'll always be able to hold that over my head... and they did.

This night, we kept it reasonable. After some micro brews, I was in bed by midnight.

And I finally caught up on some lost sleep, waking up at ten after a long and very refreshing sleep. The sun was shining, which was a nice surprise after yesterday's overcast, so I prepared for another hike.

Gonzales, who was leaving that day, recommended I try the Loma del Pliegue hike, so I got two sandwiches from the bakery and set out on a hike.

I think I only saw five other people on the trail the whole day, and it was awesome. I met a German guy on his way down from the top who explained to route to the peak, which isn't that well marked, but he said it was great.

He was not lying. I got up to the top and was rewarded with a full 360 degree view which included the Fitz Roy, Cerro Torres, and Lago Viedma all at once. And since this was a near cloudless blue sky day, the views were almost totally unobstructed.

I stayed at the top for over two hours and was completely by myself. I ate my sandwiches, which got interest from a bird (which I've decided was not nearly big enough to be a condor, no matter how badly I wanted to pretend), took tons of pictures, videos, and listened to LCD Soundsystem and had a private one man dance party on the summit. No one else came up. It was awesome. This is the least popular of the three hikes here in Chalten, but it was my favourite (and that's not to take away anything from the other two).

That evening I went to dinner with Brett, Erin, John, and Cristian who is from Buenos Aires and staying in the same hostel as the other three. We went for asado, which is Argentinian style barbecue. I was going to order another awesome Argentinian steak, but Brett convinced me to go for the lamb. After all, they had cut it open, and cooked it over an open fire all day, just so they could serve it to me. Now I'm not accustomed to having lamb in Canada, since it doesn't really seem to be that popular a dish, so I can tell you without any hesitation that this lamb was by far the best lamb I've ever had in my life. It was so incredibly tender. And don't just take my word for it. Remember, Brett's from New Zealand, so he knows his lamb, and he was impressed too.

Cristian chose some outstanding Argentinian red wine for us to drink, and we really had a good time. Lot's of laughs, and good times. And of course we ended up at La Vinaria for the third consecutive night...

Unfortunately, the Irish girls are leaving tomorrow, so we said our goodbyes that evening. Somewhere in the fun I agreed to go rock climbing the next day... which I have never done. Why not, right?

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Photos

The cloud has lift it a bit
That's being a bit optimistic, isn't it?

Bustling downtown El Chalten
Lot's of movers and shakers