El Chalten
Known as the trekking capital of Argentina, this place was a small little village tucked in between the mountains in the shadow of the famous Fitz Roy Peak. It was Paul, an Aussie named Cain, an English couple and I that had the chance to hang out together in this town. Among our favorite places was the local microbrewery and an all you can eat pizza place. But ultimately we didnt go there for beer and pizza, no, we went there to hike. And hike we did. We stayed in a hostel for a couple of first, where the receptionist at the hostel just couldnt get over the fact that the name of our Aussie friend was Cain Sparrow. He was so enthused that evertime Cain walked into the main living room he would play the theme song for Pirates of the Carribean over the loud speakers. Paul, Cain, and I rented camping equipment, stuffed food in our packs and started walking. This place had a plethera of trails that could take you days to hike, but we only stayed for one night and just picked a trail and went. The biggest thing we noticed was the wind, it was strong and cold but as long as you kept moving you stayed warm. We hiked all day, got to the campsite and pitched our tents and then hiked some more. The cool thing that happens as you move further south is that it doesnt get dark until about 10 or 11 at night so you can pretty much hike all day. We wolfed down food and then piled into a very small 3 person tent for the night. Unfortunately for us the weather was pretty white out so we didnt get the views of Fitz Roy that we longed for, but on the positive side Cain had never really been in snow so you can imagine how stoked he was when it started snowing...
El Calafate
We were sad to leave El Chalten but a huge epic glacier awaited us so we couldnt be too sad. And of course the day we left El Chalten it was a picture perfect day. Go figure. The only thing to see in El Calafate is the famous Glacier so right when we got off our 6 hour bus ride we hopped on another bus to the Glacier. It was this Glaciers fault that I was even in Patagonia in the first place. I had first seen a picture of it about 5 years ago on the internet and it rendered me speechless the first time I saw it and I told myself that I had to be there. It definitely didnt let me down. Its about 19 miles long and 3 miles wide, and it just sits there looking all blue and stuff and reflecting the sun. There is not much to do but to gawk over it and to wait in anticipation for a piece of ice to fall off. It was crazy because you can hear the cracking and falling of ice but its ridiculously loud. We were lucky enough to witness a huge piece falling off. It was so cool and got your adrenaline pumping. Everyone started cheering, hugging, and high fiving each other as if we were at some sort of a sports event and someone had just shot a touchdown or something.
Next up Puerto Natales and the W trail....
unreal man!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteImpressive, my young/old apprentice. We could use a man like you in the Security Battalion on Camp Pendleton -- fighting wild fires and rescuing Marines and damsels in distress. I'd take the job, but the Marines are too soft for me.
ReplyDeleteIf you're interested in pursuing the opportunity when you're done chasing penguins and Incas, please advise.
'Emperor' Tom