El Chalten: 18th - 21st March
18th March – Wednesday
Happy birthday Alice and Izy!
The journey from El Calafate to El Chalten went smoothly. Although the Canadian girl sitting next to me kept insisting that she had booked the window seat. I had to show her on G Translate that 11V was for ventana i.e. window and 12P was for pasillo i.e. aisle. I had 11 and she had 12, end of argument. We got chatting after that, she was actually really lovely but I think a little tense as her mum was having an operation today.
El Chalten was originally a strategic geopolitical outpost defining the boarder between Chile and Argentina with just a few sheep/cattle settlers. Then the tourists came! And now it is just another tourist destination on route 40, which is Argentina’s equivalent of route 66. Although I must admit it feels a lot more charming and less pretentious than Calafate, but it is a lot smaller and a lot less developed.
I am staying in a hostel for the next 4 nights as the apartments were far too expensive and after all of the money I have spent on tours I need to cut back a little. Also the girl on the bus told me that it is still possible to go to the Galapagos Islands, so I am seriously consider there as well as Easter Island – I will be bankrupt by the time I have finished this adventure.
The hostel is small with two rooms each with 3 bunk beds, a communal room and a large kitchen. Everyone is really friendly and chatty expect for one girl and one guy. The girl is actually really rude and has moaned about the level of noise coming from the communal room being so loud that she cannot watch her film. She then told me I was being rude and inconsiderate because I called the twins to wish them a happy birthday. A girl called Vanessa gave her what for and told her it was her being rude and if she wanted quite then she should book a private
apartment. Which is the truth. Communal spaces are for chatting, there is even a TV, not that anyone has put it on, and we all seem to get on so well that I suggested we do the hike on Friday to the view point for mount Fitzroy together. Let’s see what happens.
19th March – Thursday
Today has been very pleasant. It rained all morning but as soon as it stopped I headed out for a walk. No one else wanted to come, they all said they were waiting for later, but I didn’t want to wait and was quite happy to head out on my own. I didn’t do a long hike, which I am glad about as my lower back was killing me most of the time. The hike I did was to Chorrillo del Salto waterfall. It was only an hour each way and relatively flat. It didn’t take long to walk out of town and then along the road by the Las Vueltas River, which, although not full was very beautiful and in places flowing quite rapidly. It wasn’t long before the walk went from road to a trekking path through the bushes, but you could still hear the road. It was a lovely walk, and not too muddy considering it had been raining. I kept my eyes peeled for pumas but alas didn’t see any or any other form of wild life come to that. The waterfall was a little disappointing, it was small and had one cascade which was not overly dramatic. I hung around for a little while, hopped around the stones and water, making the most of my new waterproof trainers before following the same route back.
When I got back to the hostel everyone was out, I had a little lay down to ease my back but did not sleep. I hope it feels better for tomorrow as the hike to Fitzroy is 4 hours! I also had a good think about my next move and after chatting to a girl that is staying in one of the trailers I decided that my sciatica and back would probably not last the two day bus ride between here and Mendoza. And as much as I would love to see the landscape and do a stop of somewhere in between, I decide the 8 hour flight would be more sensible. It is double the price but will give me a lot more time in Mendoza, will not risk further pain to my back and is far faster. I think I will spend a good 4 or 5 days in Mendoza as I am really beginning to feel drained from all this travel. I need time to relax and work out if I can afford to do Easter Island and the Galapagos Islands, and if I can only do one, which one? I have also decided to leave out Chile as it is expensive and to be honest I am also running out of time. I think the islands, Peru and Bolivia will be more than enough for my last 2 and a half months. God how time flies.
20th March – Friday
What a fabulous day. The French girl in the bunk above me, her alarm went off at 4:30 so I got up 5 minutes after that. The Russian girl left before us, but us 4, me and 3 French girls left at 5:15 and off we went to Largo de Capri. Two of the French girls are not very friendly and have not spoken to me, but the other is lovely and before the two turned up it was going to be just me and her on the walk. We walked through town and as soon as we came to the start of the trail the 3 of them picked up pace, didn’t even say goodbye and fucked off leaving me in the dark on my own. Luckily Juan, the hostel manager had given me a head lamp. Determined not to let these rude French girls ruin my experience, and also being the tough bitch that I am I continued with sheer determination in my stride. It was not easy, especially as my glasses kept steaming up, I found myself stopping every ten minutes to clean them. Then the head lamp came off the strap and I could not see to put it back on so I had to hold it with my left hand. This was OK for a while as one of my walking sticks was broken, the French girls had claimed and taken all the good sticks last night. So I had lamp and broken stick in one hand and was using the good stick with the other. I almost tripped so many times it was all a bit scary. It didn’t take long before I heated up and needed to stop and strip off my jumper, it was soaking wet. I used the light on my phone so that I could fix my head lamp and realised that I could use the broken pole upside down. Oh what a difference having two poles made. Naturally there were a lot of steep inclines, which I did slowly and surely, watching the ground so I could keep my balance, but as soon as the ground ‘levelled’ out a bit I was able to fly along.
So many people passed me, it was quite funny, if I turned around I could see their head lamps in the distance. It was really lovely as a few actually slowed down and chatted to me for a while and one guy from Italy must have spent a good half hour with me. By now it was beginning to get light and my glasses were steaming up less and less. Then a young Asian looking guy came jogging past me and as he did we got our first view of Mount Fitzroy. WoW. A stunning white peak stood majestically in front of us. The guy jumped with joy, literally, and then explained that he had done the route yesterday but due to the cloud coverage did not see anything. He informed me that I was less than 5 minutes from the lake and that when I get there I should follow the path to the right.
What can I say, my first view of Lake Capri with Fitzroy in the distance was jaw dropping, But there were so many people around the lake, including the 3 French girls, they must have gotten to there at least half an hour before and must have been frozen. It was so bloody cold, with white frost on the ground and all the plants. I took a couple of photos from here but did as the Asian guy said and continued to the right. It was not long before I found another view point, which had an even better view of Fitzroy and there was only one guy, again from Italy there. I stopped and we chatted as he peeled and ate an orange. My hands were so cold they were becoming painful so I put on the pair of fluffy socks I had bought with me to us as gloves. They were not fantastic but certainly helped.
The sun actually came up behind us, from all of the fuss everyone had made I thought it was going to come up over Fitzroy. So as you can imagine I was a little disappointed, but not too much as watching Fitzroy change colours as the sun rose and reflected off of it was quite stunning. The peak became orange and then slowly the orange worked it’s way down the peak until the whole of it glowed almost like it was on fire. Once the sun was fully up the orange colour disappeared and the Italian guy said his goodbyes and trundled off on the Fitzroy hike, which is where most of the hikers started heading to.
It had taken me two hours to get to Capri and I really didn’t fancy another 2 hours to the Fitzroy peak and then 4 hours back. So I headed further round the lake, saw a map and followed the
direction to a viewpoint. What can I saw, Fitzroy is magnificent and every time I turned to look at it I wanted to take photos, but had to stop myself as I already had tons of them. I was now hiking in full daylight and could properly appreciate the landscape around me. I was actually walking the wrong way along the Fitzroy path so had to give way to a lot of hikers who were coming up the trail. Most were really friendly but there a few who just barged past me like I did not exist, obviously their hike was more important than anyone else’. There are some real rude people in this world. Anyway I did not let them bother me and continued my way down. It was so awesome to see the landscape around me, especially once I was on the trail that I had followed in the dark. I actually recognised a fair but of it, but at the same time shocked and proud that I had managed some of boulders and more challenging parts of the trail in the dark.
Once I finally got back into town I stopped and treated myself to a hot chocolate and avocado, bacon and egg on toast – it was well needed and so enjoyable. I got back to the hostel exhausted and my legs were killing me. I was so glad I didn’t attempt the full Fitzroy hike and tucked myself up in bed feeling very proud and content.
After having a good cat nap I decided to brave it again and go for another walk, but an easy one this time, so I went to Mirador Condor and Mirador Aguilas. Both very easy hikes and next door to each other. I didn’t realise but you needed to pay to do these hikes, however the machine would not accept my debit card and I didn’t have enough cash. Luckily the man was in a good mood and let me through for free. I only had one walking stick with me and was grateful for that, even though it was easy going I was still quite exhausted from the morning hike. When I got Condor there were a few boulders to climb before reaching the very top. I was struggling to get my left leg up high when, out from nowhere this lovely man from Buenos Aries, called Mark, stuck out his hand to assist me. I could have so easily fallen in love except for the fact his wife was giving me such a beautiful smile and wave. What a lovely couple. They took some photos for me and then when I was heading down Mark came and helped me again. Such a gentleman, but I did question if I am beginning to look and act like a little old lady who needs assistance – lol. While at Condor I did not see any condors which was a little disappointing. Charlotte, from the hostel told me that when she went the condors actually came up to her, but from reading all of the information charts on the way up to the viewing point, unless she was a dead piece of meat I doubt very much that they had any interest in her what-so-ever.
Later, when I was on my way to and from Aquilas, I was actually lucky enough to see 4 condors, 2 separate pairs, flying high in the sky. They were very beautiful gliding on the airwaves but far too high up to see any details and if it wasn’t for the fact that this is their area I would not have known they were condors. The view of the Patagonia steppe was vast and mind blowing from Aquilas, but alas the wind had picked up so fiercely that I didn’t stay long and headed back to town before the cold really set into my bones.
Before heading back to the hostel I stopped and had dinner at the Nomde restaurant, I had a burger, which was so fat and juicy and kept falling apart that I had to eat it with a knife and fork. I also had a couple of draft beers, which were delicious. I could have stayed for a third beer but decided against it and pottered back to finish my bottle of wine. And after today, I hope I get a good night’s sleep.
21st March – Saturday
Uhm, that was a really shit nights sleep. I really do wonder what is wrong with me, no matter how hard a day I have had, I rarely get a good nights sleep and always tend to toss and turn. I woke early and had a couple of coffees before anyone else emerged. It was nice to have the communal area to myself. Although the morning was overcast it soon brightened up and I selected a walk to do which was of moderate difficulty and only an 8km round journey.
As I was hungry I decided to have a coffee and bite to eat first. I stopped at the place at the bottom of the hill to not only find that I have left my phone at the hostel but that I also had a really bad bruise on the bottom of my right foot. So that was the end of my trekking for the day. Instead I booked my accommodation for Mendoza and then went for a slow limp into town and sat outside a restaurant in the sunshine and drank an expensive but extremely delicious glass of beer.
Other than that I have nor done anything else today, but then after yesterday and with the bruising on my foot bottom I think a day off was needed.