Argentinian Patagonia - Windy Wilderness at the end of the Earth (well sort of): 25th February - 4th March

March 16, 2008 by Naomi.

When we arrived down south, we were expecting some kind of Patagonian paradise; what we got was El Calafate. Little more than a street eight years ago, the devaluation of the Argentine peso in 2001 led to an influx of tourists coming to gawp at the nearby Glaciar Perito Moreno (you’ve probably seen a photo of it somewhere). Now El Calafate is a sizeable town jam-packed with tourists and the inevitable over-priced everything. Things are made somewhat more difficult by the fact that no one takes credit cards and Argentine banks will not let Visa users take more than 50GPB out at a time (making withdrawing money very expensive), but seeing the creaking, groaning, moaning glacier and a bikeride around Lago Argentino made it all worth it in the end.

Our visit to Glaciar Perito Moreno was marked by crappy weather. We flocked onto a boat with lots of other tourists and were quite surprised it didn’t capsize as all the people crowded to the same side to take a ridiculous quantity of photos of the ice. At the various viewpoints back on land, we saw the glacier from directly opposite where there had been a bridge of ice. The glacier is most famous for the bridge it often forms, from its outmost point on Lago Argentino, to the land opposite. The bridge follows a cycle along with the ever-moving glacier. As with all glaciers, the ice and silt build up, and it gradually moves across the lake, and unlike others, it meets the land on the other side, a bridge is formed with the water rushing underneath, and then as the glacier makes its gradual progress forward, the weight of the ice and rock and silt becomes too much for the bridge to bear, the bridge explodes and all the ice falls into water in a dramatic scene. To see this great spectacle, one has to time their visit with great expertise, or visit the local museum in El Calafate and watch it on DVD (as we did the following day). Because it was pissing with rain, most tourists took refuge in the over-crowded visitors’ centre while the few who braved the weather got to watch and listen to the glacier moaning, creaking and cracking with the pressure of its own weight, and even witnessed some minor examples of calving.

The contrasting scenery we saw from the bus made us regret not being on our bikes (we jealously eyed a rather weathered pair of road warriors on their bikes down at the glacier). However, it would have taken at least a day to cycle from Calafate to the glacier, and let’s face it, with all that wind and rain, buses are a pretty cosy option, despite the pet peeves that one develops when having to share limited space with others.

The weather was more favourable the following day, when we managed to rent a couple of bikes to soak up the Patagonian vibe of wind, sky, sun and prairie and cycled a good 30km around the Lago Argentino with only a mild wind hindering/pushing us along the way.

Two days was plenty of time for El Calafate, after which we moved onto the far superior El Chaltén. The town has only existed since 1985 and the best part of the journey to this town is on unpaved roads. The area was the subject of a border dispute between Argentina and Chile, but the former cunningly went in and founded the town, which itself is not a particularly attractive place, being made up of metal-roofed houses and various boxy little places to serve all the tourists that come to town. So, what is the attraction of this pokey little place?

As we approached the town, we were extremely lucky to have clear weather and were able to see the mighty peaks of Cerro Torre and Cerro Fitzroy and their neighbouring companions piercing the sky above the valley in which the village lay. All visitors have to stop at the park visitors’ centre, where they are told not to litter the park with toilet paper, sanitary towels (occasionally ignored), plastic bags and especially not to start any fires with their cigarette butts. Indeed it is illegal for supermarkets in El Chaltén and El Calafate to give out plastic bags, a very wise decision indeed, although it does rather make it difficult to take your litter out of the park with you.

As to be expected in areas like this, the weather changed dramatically and by nightful the driving rain and wind was blasting against our window. We woke up with the idea that we wouldn’t be going anywhere, but as things calmed down a bit we decided to head off and see how far we could get without getting too battered by the elements. The weather was changeable, which meant we got to see a few rainbows through the drizzle and sun. We climbed up to the first Mirador de los Torres, the view of Cerro Torre was marred by cloud, although the glacier wasn’t. Further up the trail at the highest point, we were disappointed to see the clouds still hiding Cerro Torre even though we were right up next to it! Several times, we bumped into and chatted to Tosh from Barra (Outer Hebrides) who walked with super-human speed; we were shocked to see him literally running down the mountain on the way back (at which point the weather was well and truly miserable), just because he’d got bored of walking. Despite the disappointing weather, we still managed to hike a good seven hours through the wilderness, which was a delight in itself (despite crippled feet), and find ourselves a drinking partner for the night. It turned out that it was Tosh’s birthday, and being 29th February meant that it was actually only his 9th birthday despite being born in 1972; a very merry night in the local microbrewery was in order to help him celebrate this most important day, along with Tory, Suzi and Elaine.

As a result, we were not going to get very far the next day. A humble walk against the mighty Patagonian wind took us up to a Chorrio de Salto waterfall 3kms up the road, which just about cured us of our hangovers. All a big pity as the weather was clearing and you could see the mountain peaks from the town. Red sky at night shepherd’s delight: the red sky in the evening was indeed a very good omen for the following day. We booked a stupidly over-priced lift in a minibus up the road to Hosteria Pilar to do the Fitzroy trail from the other end of the valley (instead of just going up and back again). Thus we were treated to some excellent views of the mighty Fitzroy peak from various different points, not to mention some of its hanging glaciers. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and after a good four hours, the last of which required quite a scramble up a steep zig-zagging rocky path, brought us to the lake at the foot of this triangular peak, where we thoroughly enjoyed our well-deserved lunch. While scrambling our way down we were treated to some excellent views of most of the valley, especially of Laguna Madre and Laguna Hija (Mother and Daughter Lakes). We could have walked straight back to town in a couple of hours, but foolishly decided that the four-hour detour via aforesaid picturesque lakes, and Laguna Nieta (Grandaughter Lake), to two miradores of the Cerro Torre (the peak hidden behind clouds two days earlier) would be worth the extra effort. However, after another hour of walking poor feet had to be plunged into refreshing Laguna Hija to help calm the pain. And we finally got to lay our eyes on Cerro Torre and its surrounding peaks in a perfectly clear afternoon sky which we’d missed on our earlier walk.

Our feet wouldn’t let us get up to much the following day but no matter, seeing these fantastic peaks was the best highlight of our trip so far.

Recommended after this trip:
El Calafate:
Visit to Perito Moreno Glacier, obviously
Pura Vida Restaurant - when you get fed up with the usual meat and potatos/pizza/pasta options, this place offers a refreshing bowl of lentils and other more veggie options to make a change
Hotel Los Lagos (no toast,only bread for brekkie, though)
DO NOT DRINK El Calafate tap water, even after sterilising it

El Chaltén:
Lago Torre Trail and Fitzroy Trail
Microbewery - only has two ‘artesanal’ beers on offer but usual bottled stuff is cheaper and anything is nice to drink in cheery, cosy atmosphere, not to mention being the only aesthetically pleasing building in town.
Posada Inlandsis - first hot toast since home!, and comfortable ‘low-cost’ rooms with bunkie type beds
Del Bosque cafe - fab empanadas (pasties) and salads
Empanadas also delicious (but smaller) in the last Panaderia/bakery in town before heading off on Fitzroy trail

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