Lamb Stew and mountain views

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The weather wasn’t great today to try and do the big trek we had intended on doing. Instead we had a sleep in and late breakfast. We did a few bits on the really slow internet and pottered about the hostel for awhile. The weather had cleared up so we decided to do a small trek (about 10km’s) called Los Condores and Las Aguias. We didn’t need to bring anything with us as we were only going for 3 hrs. The treks we had intended on doing are only about 6 km’s return but or walk to and back from the trek is 4km return. We made it to the start of the trail and had to climb 100 metres above sea level. Not so bad if it’s gradual but it was steep enough. We made it to the top for stunning views of the town and surrounding areas. El Chalten is a small town that survives on tourism. I think it was originally set up as it is close to the Chilean border and there was some dispute over land, so the Argentineans set up a town there back in 1985. My pictures will show its size.

It was windy at the top so we headed to the Las Aguias trail. We had to descend a little and start on the new path. This walk was longer but not as hard as we had already climbed 100 metres above sea level. When we reached the end of the trail we could see for miles the surrounding flat lands and views of lake Viedma. We sat here for a while and admired the view. Behind us were the spectacular Fitz Roy mountains. The clouds had cleared and the sun was shining so we got some good pictures. We will hike to these tomorrow and we have been told that the weather is going to be good. We made our way back and sometimes coming down is as hard as going down, especially when the decline is steep. Our knees were sore from it and we were thankful of any flat ground. All in all it was a very easy hike and registered at only -6 on our Croagh Patrick scale.

We had watched the first Matrix film the previous night and Michelle was hooked. After lunch today we watched the other two, one after the other. We had decided it was time we ate out and we went in search of Patagonian lamb. We found a nice restaurant advertising ‘Cordero’ (lamb) and ventured inside. All that was available that evening was ‘Estofado Cordero’ (lamb stew) and it came with a set menu including wine and desert for €10. There was nobody else in there as it was end of season. The lamb stew was honestly the nicest I have ever had. The lamb in the stew was on the bone and the only way to eat it was with my fingers. At the end I nearly wanted to suck the bones but Michelle might not have gone to dinner with me for a long time again! It was really nice and I contemplated asking for more instead of dessert. We are looking forward to the trek tomorrow as it has one hike that goes from 350metres above sea level to 750 metres over 2.5km’s. I know by the time I’ve reached 400m that I’ll be down to my t-shirt in 2 degrees temperature as the sweat will be pumping off me if I’m too hot. Over all we have about 25 to 30 km to walk tomorrow and also a lot harder than the 25km trek we did a few days previous. We are well prepared and ready for action!

In a bit. DH

Song of the blog: Rock ‘n’ Roll Star - Oasis

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