El Chalten

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Argentinas flagPublished: January 26th 2010South America » Argentina » Santa Cruz
January 23rd 2010

After buses and buses we arrived in El Chalten, the "trekking capital of Argentina." Upon gathering our gear who do we see? A fellow Junketeer (a term recently created referring to those who participated in the Moto-taxi Junket race...), Mimi, was there waiting eager to join in on our trekking adventure. The four of us then headed off to find a suitable place to camp for the night and plan the trek.

Typically hikers in Chalten use the town as their base and do day hikes out to see some of the sights. Of course we would never JUST do day hikes so we decided to make a 5 day trek out of it. Good choice :). Bad weather.

The hiking in Glaciar National Park was relatively easy. Maybe it was because we were coming off the crazy Torres del Paine sprint, but the days were definitely shorter and easier. We had plenty of time to enjoy cards and crazy Coloradan camping games.

The highlight of the trek had to be the morning hike up to see the towers at sunrise. Thanks to our "likely to be a weather girl due to terrible predictions" friend Mimi, we woke up at 3 am. Hiked an 1.5 hour hike in 45 minutes and froze up on a mountain for a 630am sunrise. Good one Mims haha. BUT it was worth it. We didn't see anybody until right before sunrise when a few people came. And the sunrise was amazing. And very cold. But amazing.

After the sunrise a much needed nap was taken before the hike out of the park, where goodbyes were said (and we decided to try out moustaches) before Todd and I got on our bus back to El Calafate. That night after an all-you-can eat restaurant we decided to try our luck in the El Calafate Casino.... What I figured out:
Todd's "fail proof" tactic at Roulette... failed
They're a bunch of crooks!
Casinos are stupid anyways!

40 hour bus to Buenos Aires.

Typically there is not much to be said about 40 hour bus rides. You watch crummy movies, read your books, make fun of people, talk and sleep. But this particular bus ride was different...We watched crummy movies, read a little, made fun of people, talked, slept.... but then: we played Bingo. I won. Sang "Enter Sandman" by Metallica because some kids going to the show said I looked like the lead singer and won a bottle of wine.

Back in BsAs. Enjoyed lots of good food, tried to go see Metallica in concert (failed.) and saw some of the city before Todd had to leave... Great little trip with Todd, and about 2 weeks of sleeping on the cold Patagonian Ground in a not-so-suitable tent. It was incredible.



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Ben Lakoff
June 7th my younger brother Pete and I set off to explore Central America. He left to go to college in August and I headed to South America.... I will do my best to update this blog as much as possible Miss everyone tons, but I do love Latin America! Any questions I can be reached by email at btlakoff@gmail.com ... full info
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Following independence from Spain in 1816, Argentina experienced periods of internal political conflict between conservatives and liberals and between civilian and military factions. After World War II, a long period of Peronist authoritarian rule an...more info
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Comments
Date: 31st January 2010

El chalten
Hi Ben - have no more adjectives to describe your photos. Have fun, be safe. Love you, aunt Bev snow and cold here too taday - 5 inches.

From Blog: El Chalten
Date: 6th February 2010


DUDE- sick sick sick pics. Keep 'em coming!

From Blog: El Chalten




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