Blogs from El Chaltén, Santa Cruz, Argentina, South America - page 4

There is only the two of us now, as Mike ventured north yesterday. It was sad to see the final remnants of the group break up, but i have a feeling we will run into each other somewhere in the near future. The previous two days were very low key, recovering from the trek, getting a ridiculously large amount of clothes washed and sorting out travel arrangements. We did go out for a belated birthday dinner last night for mojo, at Afrigonia; i hybrid of Chilean & Zambian food. It was pricey, but for a special occasion and the food was exceptional. We shared an entree of Ceviche, each had an enormous slightly seared tuna steak (it was served in two pieces, each the size of my fist), and black bean panna cotta and a chocolate ... read more

I had a very poor sleep on my last night in El Calafate. Someone in my room had a phone that would beep every minute. I think maybe the battery was dying, but it didn't seem to disturb him. Just me. I only managed to sleep for a couple of hours before it drove to a couch in the common area. So naturally I slept half of the three and a half hour bus ride to El Calafate to try and make up for it. I would have slept for the other half as well, but it was a clear day without a cloud in the sky, and that meant spectacular views of the Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre from the bus. And these are two geological features that don't really make any sense compared to ... read more

Aujourd’hui, c’était prévu, beau temps prévu, la journée idéale pour aller faire la rando de 8h, 26 km et 750m de dénivelé jusqu’au Laguna de Los Tres, au pied du Fitz Roy. Eva est repartie la veille pour El Calafate pour faire une excursion en bateau et voir d’autres glaciers (les plus grands) mais moi je ne voulais pas manquer l’occasion d’aller faire cette rando dont on m’avait dit du bien les jours précédents. Eh bien, tout le monde a eu la même idée et attendait une belle journée pour s’y rendre (sachant qu’il allait repleuvoir mardi). En plus nous avons eu de la chance, car il parait que les sommets sont souvent nuageux et que ce n’est même pas la peine de faire la dernière partie de la rando si c’est le cas (tu m’étonnes). ... read more

After Ushuaia, we heading to Argentina's unofficial "Capital of Treking", El Chalten. El Chalten is the newest city in the whole country and with ~600 people, its easy to believe. The town is situated right at the base of the Andes and at the Northern tip of the Glacier National Park. This makes it perfect for hiking, glacier walks, and rock climbing. Our focus was on the hiking and we spent our time here doing several of the more intense hikes. The first was to see Laguna Torres, a lake situated by a glacier and a massive stone peak - Cerro Torres. The hike was long (24 km round trip) and with gradual inclines. We went through a variety of landscapes, from arrid valleys, forests to river beds. The second hike was to see the famous ... read more

After the short side trip back to Chile I returned across the border into Argentina to take a look at two memorable destinations in the Los Glaciares National Park. First stop was the town of El Calafate, gateway to some of the lakes and glaciers in the area. The most well-known glacier is the Perito Moreno and is currently one of the few advancing glaciers. Its tongue juts across the Lago Argentino lake towards land and it actually makes contact approximately every 4-5 years. This causes a unique phenomenon where a section of the lake becomes blocked by the glacier. With no outlet, the water level on the blocked side can incredibly rise 30m above the level of the main side, causing a massive pressure buildup. When it becomes too much the wall of ice explodes ... read more