El Calafate and El Chalten

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Hola Amigos!

I left off in El Bolsón, the town of great jam and no Skype, and from here I took an immense bus journey to El Calafate. If you have a look on a map, it is pretty far! And to give you an idea, the bus left El Bolsón at 11.40am, and arrived into El Calafate at 2.30pm. That is an awfully long time to spend sitting on your bum, and the most comfortable seats had all sold out, so I had to take the 'semi-cama' bus, which is kind of like being on a plane! And they had some of the most awful films as well, seriously, avoid 'White Chicks' and 'I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry'. The worst thing is, you have no choice but to watch them as the sound is piped around the bus! But it was ok, I travelled it with 3 really funny American guys which made the journey pass more quickly. Their answer to face the journey was to get stoned at every rest stop, which made for funny viewing for me!

So, I arrived in El Calafate a bit tired and achey, but I decided to walk to my hostel. I said bye to the stoners, but serendipity would strike again in El Chalten, where I would see them once more! Alas, I had not realised my hostel was up a big dirt hill, and I walked up the wrong side of the hill. It was hot that day, I was disorientated, and had no idea where I was heading (there are no street signs in El Calafate). Eventually, I found my way back to the main road and realised where I had gone wrong. I walked up the right side of the hill, and got to my hostel. One of the best feelings in the world is arriving at a place when you have been lugging a massive backpack around on a hot day! I named my backpack 'The Beast' when I went travelling a couple of years ago. And now I remember why! The girl on reception was so lovely, she gave me a kiss, and I warned her about my sweatiness, she rightly went 'urrgh' after kissing my very sweaty face!

I was fairly tired, and luckily the hostel was having an asado (BBQ) that night, so I signed up for that, and met a really nice British couple (Jo and Owen) and an American called Laurel. It turned out I was on the same glacier tour as Jo and Owen, and was booked into the same hostel in El Chalten (where I headed to for a night from El Calafate) as Laurel! El Calafate itself is not that great, very touristy, the only attraction really is Perito Moreno Glacier. I did the 'Big Ice' hike, where you spend a good few hours trekking on the glacier and do a little boat trip. It was really good fun, until my old-school 60s crampons locked together as we were climbing down a steep part of the glacier, I went tumbling towards a big crevasse in the ice and the guide had to hurl himself in front of me to stop me plunging to my icy death! But it was a good day nonetheless, if a little embarassing after that incident.

After El Calafate, I went to El Chalten, just 3 hours north, for a night to do some more walking, and I was meeting Jo and Owen there the following morning to do a long hike. Overnight I developed a horrendous cold and cough, so on the bus to El Chalten, I slept all the way, arrived at my hostel, said nothing to anyone, and climbed into bed! I spent the day alternating between bed and sofa, drinking tea and eating nice food (pumpkin soup, spinach omelette...mmm). Then met Laurel for dinner, before having a very early night! Luckily, I woke up the next day feeling a million times better, so met Jo and Owen, and we did the Lago Torre trek, which we worked out was about 20km! Not bad! It was pretty tiring, but enjoyable, and we are planning to meet up in Cusco, Peru to do some more trekking there.ç

That night I had my bus back to El Calafate, spent a night in a hostel near the bus station to catch my next bus to Puerto Madryn...

Just a little note, though. When we were trekking, we were wearing jeans or combats, t-shirts, fleeces and rain jackets. Not exactly hardcore trekking gear, but it was absolutely fine. You should have seen some of the walking get-ups people have! There was an older couple wearing completely matching outfits, bright blue waterproof trousers, luminous jackets, 2 walking poles, fleecey headbands, the lot!

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Comments

[Tania]

Oh gosh, finding your hostel sounded a lot like my experience, but just imagine it being on New Years Day at 0900 (I'm sure people just went to bed a couple of hours earlier) where there was no one on the street. to ask for directions. I started to go up the wrong hill too, but had seen a picture and thought it was up the other hill and luckily I was right otherwise I would've thrown my "beast" down and had a righteous hissy fit. So much fun to read your blogs because I feel like I'm reliving my memories.