49 Degrees South...

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Hola,

We are sure you are wondering why we would bother putting ourselves through two excruciatingly long bus rides when we truly hate bus journeys as they are bone-jarringly uncomfortable. It was not for pleasure, believe us. We did it beacause it was the fastest and easiest way, believe it or not, to get to the southern Patagonian village of El Chalten. El Chalten is Argentina's newest town, founded in 1980, and it is located near the southwest corner of the country. It is a town of merely 600 souls, but it backs on to the Hielo Continental Sur, which is the largest ice field in the world outside the polar regions. It also has some of the most spectactular mountain peaks in the world as well as some of the best hiking around so it was not really surprising that we were drawn to it.

On our first day there, it was sunny and everyone at Ranch Grande Hostel told us to get out there and hike because the weather can change very quickly. We thought they were exaggerating somewhat, but we later learned that this statement was very much the case. There is also a joke in town amongst locals. A peak can have one small cloud passing across it slowly bus as soon as it gets to the other side, it will increase its speed exponentially in order to come back around and block the view of the peak again. We laughed when we were told this, but we also learned that it was very true.

Our first hike led us past the ranger station and into Parque Nacional Los Glaciares. We went through some hills, affording us excellent views of El Chalten, before going through wind ravaged forests and meadows. At this point, the wind picked up. Locals call it the "Viento Oeste", or "west wind". It is frightening because it blows in with such force that it is hard to stand up. We thought the wind in the Patagonian plains was bad. Afterall, it did blow one of the hatches completely off the bus and into a field when we were on our way to El Chalten. That wind was nothing. It becomes very difficult to hike when one is virtually doubled over to try to keep from being knocked over. Being true Canadians, we put on our jackets and kept walking, refusing to be deterred. Then it started to snow. We were out on an exposed mountain slope, 1000 metres above the valley bottom, with nowhere to shelter other than some cow-sized boulders. What did we do you ask? Did we turn back? Did we hunker down to wait it out? Well, we decided that it would be a good time to have lunch. We made our lunch up there in the horrendous conditions, completely unable to see the mountains or valleys due to the wind and snow. Fortunately, we made our lunch last long enough that the weather started to lift so we were able to hike the rest of the Loma del Pligue Tumbada to its 1490 metre summit, albeit in snow, where we were afforded with fairly decent views of mountains, valleys, lakes and glaciers. Unfortunately, we were not able to see the two most dramatic and jagged peaks, Cerro Torre and Cerro Fitz Roy. That beings said, we still had some fantastic views and it was a very enjoyable 7 hour hike. We celebrated it buying going to La Cerveceria, which is a the cutest bar and microbrewery ever. It is a log cabin, has two types of beer rubia and negra that are brewed on site, and has 10 tables and light fixtures made of drift wood. They also made and amazing locro, which is a Patagonian stew made of beef, sausage and many vegetables. It is thick and hearty and perfect for cold weather. Needless to say we visited it a couple of times more before we left.

The next day, the weather got even worse. The wind howled indefatigably and it rained sideways in the morning and snowed sideways in the afternoon so we stayed inside in our ski chalet type hostel for as much of the day as possible. We did manage to have some excellent Patagonian lamb for dinner though.

The next day was somewhat better, in between both days weather wise, so we went for another hike. Since we were not expecting great views, we went for a valley hike that would be 18 kilometres and would take us to Laguna Torre. It was a pleasant walk through the valley and twisted forests but when we arrived at Laguna Torre, we could not see Cerro Torre. It was completely covered in clouds. We did have decent views of both Glacier Grande and Glacier Torre, as well as being able to touch some ice that had broken off Glacier Torre and was floating in Laguna Torre. On the way back to town, the weather got better. En route, a little kitten jumped on to the path. The poor little guy was an hour out of town , very lost and scared stiff. He followed us back to town and ran off when he started to recognize things but he was ridiculously cute. Before dinner, we went for a walk around town (which really didn't take that long as it is a tiny town) but we were finally able to see all 3441 metres of the monolith that is Cerro Fitz Roy. It was spectacular!!! It was a great way to end our time in El Chalten.

Bye for now,
Peter and Valerie

Things we learned in El Chalten:
-Everything the locals say about the weather is true!
-Ice cream truly is Peter's kryptonite
-Drinking thousand year old glacier water is very refreshing
-Unfiltered, microbrewed beer is amazing, perhaps even better than thousand year old glacial water
-Cerro Torre has been stolen as we saw no sign of it in El Chalten. If any of you see a tall, spikey montain anywhere, let the authorities in El Chalten know

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