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Published: January 31st 2007
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El Chalten
Mount Fitzroy EL CHALTEN -back in Argentina and the last few days of our Patagonian sojourn. El Chalten? Stand aside Chicago, we have a new town stealing the mantel of Windy City. The wind here could take the wrinkles out of one of those dogs whose skin is too big for it´s body. The town itself is straight out of the wild west. At any moment you can picture Pablo and Juan bursting into the dusty street for a good old fashioned shoot out. El Chalten´s raison d´etre is it´s proximity to the National Park and the Fitzroy Mountain perched on it´s doorstep.
What sort of weather would you prefer not to have if you intend to spend time in the great outdoors, wind or rain? How about both in volumes on our first day, the clouds blotting out any legitimate vistas. We were rugged up like a pair of Michelin Men charging up the trails in an attempt to negate wind, water and cold. When the weather cleared (but the wind hung in there) the backdrops of the Fitzroy were a treat and again we pushed out about 16 or 17 klms a day around these phenominal landscapes.
1 highlight over the
El Chalten
Mt Fitzroy past couple of weeks has been a few of the quirky little restaurants, bars, cafes, etc we´ve come across (eg la Mesita Grande in Puerto Natales , Chile.). In El Chalten it was Del Bosque where we would wander in at about 11.00 at night for a couple of Malbecs and a slice of home made almond cake mixed with the funky jazz coming from his sound system, all inside this stone cabin out of the wind.
NB. The roast lamb is slow cooked over a naked flame in the front windows of the restaurants for hours and you could eat it with a spoon it is just that tender. Penny was even tempted to forget her evil vegetarian ways and partake after she was served up some other vile looking excuse for crepes.
We´re leaving Argentina/Chile tomorrow, so in a nutshell, the people are as amicable as you could hope a people could be - I´ll be supporting the Pumas as my number 2 team in the World Cup in September (can´t see Chile making it)
GARY
EL CHALTEN - like the guide book described it, windy, cold, nothing town (including no banks or ATM as we discovered
El Chalten
Australian Patagonia after we arrived). It´s difficult to appreciate the mountainous backdrop and snow peaks with such strong wind, however we defied the odds and got out amongst it, managing 2 great walks (don´t know if my face will ever recover, I can now blame my wrinkles on El Chalten). However, my Spanish is on the improve! (not). Having asked in perfect Spanish where the money exchange is. Fortunately Gary knew I was actually bursting for a toilet and came to the rescue again. Gary said I should have gone to the money exchange anyway and pissed on their exchange rate but only he would think of that.
PENNY
More images at:
www.colvinyeates.zenfolio.com
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