Advertisement
Published: February 11th 2007
Edit Blog Post
(Dave´s turn) So after we left Torres del Paine, we headed to El Calafate a some what of a frontier town at the end of the road. It is all very busy and bustling with the new tourist trade. The town is growing rapidly and expanding greatly. We arrived late at night and found the Walmart of hostels to stay in, nice since it was almost midnight and we had no prior arrangements. The hostel had 168 beds and felt much like a college dorm rather than a hostel, but it had much needed showers and we were ready to sleep.
Awaking early, we used the next day to get organized. We left Walmart hostel and ended up at a campground area (Los Dos Pinos) that was attached to a vast complex of hotel rooms and cabanas. Much nicer, especially when you could check in at 10 AM, leave your laundry to be cleaned and arrange the bus north for the park region where we were to go trekking next. The rest of the day we wandered around town admiring all of the trinkets available to buy. I think all tourist areas are quite similar in this manner.
Early
Cerro Fitz Roy & Friends
a most spectacular view in Parque Nacionale de Los Glaciares the next day we headed out to the bus station to a more remote town of El Chalten. This town is at the northern end of the Glaciar national Park and much quieter, mostly a base for climbers and trekkers. It had a feel of Talkeetna, Alaska. We opted to bypass the spectacular glacier directly west of El Calafate(Perito Moreno), because they basically cram you into a boat and shuttle you around. While it looked spectacular we were happy to head to quieter El Chaten.
We had a windless, clear day to hike up to our first campsite Angostini, with great views of a glacier and the southern Torres of this district. We had a brilliant sunny day and went to bed quite early, OK really early - like 8 PM. Keep in mind most Argentinian´s do not even eat dinner until 11PM.
So it poured all night and morning and since we are such tough Alaskans we did what anyone would do and stayed in the tent until it stopped raining, about 10 AM or so and the campground was mostly deserted!!! For those keeping track that was about 14 hours straight of being in the tent.
I guess we were tired.
Anyways, it was still a little rainy and we headed out to the next campsite at Poincenot. We hiked along 2 nice lakes and arrived in time to grab a spectacular site in the sun with great views of Cerro Fitz Roy (a very popular feature for climbers). Since we were well rested from the night before, we made camp and set off to a view point of Piedras Blancas (a very blue glacier). By this time the day became once again gorgeous and our weather luck was continuing to amaze us. After a nice dinner we set again to bed at a more reasonable hour, 11 PM and were not the first to be asleep in camp.
The next AM I awoke and decided to hike up about 130 meters to a view point looking at Fitz Roy. I love the punishment of going up very steep trails. Fortunately we did not attempt the sunrise photo of the rock and I left at a more reasonable hour of 9AM. There was not a hint of wind at the top and I was up there only with one other person that I could
see. It was quite a nice sight.
Arriving back at the camp, Kevyn had broke camp and we headed down the trail a bit early because the wind was whipping and it was cold. We made it back into town after a very long and often steep descent. My knee had been aching after long descents and this time it slowed me a bit, but we made it back in plenty of time to have the best pizza thus far of the trip at a very small brewery in El Chalten. We then did what we do best and that is wait for the bus. The wind in town was blowing amazingly and the dust was everywhere. We seeked refuge in the buses affiliated hostel while waiting.
Back in the hub of El Calafate, we arrived back at our campground area and retrieved many of our belongings, many places will watch your things so you do not need to carry them while trekking. A very nice option. Instead of camping we decided to get a double room with a shared bath, they had a very nice building with to bed rooms and a communial bath and kitchen that
we shared with an eldery couple from Buenos Aires. They were super nice and finished their dinner as we arrived and once again found a long awaited shower. Once again our double room had two single beds and we have yet to find a double room with one double bed on the whole trip!!
A great quiet sleep and the next day off to the airport for our flight north to Bariloche, saving a long bus ride...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.139s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 17; qc: 77; dbt: 0.0732s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
El Nicko
non-member comment
Is Dave running an ad campaign for Aeuarela?
"Hi, my name's Dave Northup, President of Aeuarela ice cream co. When I'm not doing construction or traveling around the world, I'm eating my Aeuraela! I especially love eating our number one flavor, Mint chip. Mmmm mmm good. Look for your next Aeuarela store opening soon in Homer, Alaska."