Patagonia Part I - Argentina

By Brent

We finally got rid of Kyle and headed down south to visit the cities of El Chalten and El Calafate, Argentina.

There's a lot in this post, so I apologize for all the words in advance. But look! Pretty pictures!

Cerros Fitz Roy and Torre - El Chalten

Obviously, we needed to get a little food for our bus ride, otherwise we never would have survived the 24-hour journey. Dana likes chocolate; I figured this would be a good surprise to supplement whatever we were given on the bus. Dana agreed.  

It was very good that we brought chocolate. You are currently looking at a picture of what could be the worst airplane/bus food I've ever had.

We made it! Leaving the bus station, we had a pretty cool sunset. As an added bonus, it wasn't excessively windy (for those who don't know, Patagonia is basically the region of southern Chile and Argentina where the wind blows incessantly, the weather is never warm, and it rains about 360 days out of the year and snows on half of those days as well - in other words, the perfect place to go camping).

The next morning we went for a quick hike to look at some of the places within an easy walk and saw a rainbow. Dana was quite excited.

After gathering supplies for a small loop through the major hiking trails, we hung out at the hostel talking with some new friends, explored the small town, Dana worked on job applications, and we went to bed. We woke up to this on the morning of our first multi-day hike in Patagonia.

Shortly after setting off, we had our first encounter with pack llamas.

This was our first outlook on the mountains we were headed to see up close. It was phenomenal, and it's really too bad the camera can't capture these peaks. The tallest is Fitz Roy or Chalten (3,405m), depending on who you ask, and the next major peak to its left is Poincenot.

Surrounding this beautiful vista were the colors of Patagonia in the fall:

A little bit closer to our home for the night, we got this view:

We were told that someone recently free-soloed (climbed up and down the mountains without using ropes for safety) the whole ridgeline. Just to get to the base of these mountains takes special gear because you have to cross several small glaciers, then you have to climb up a ways, and eventually you hit an ice-cap on the tops of some peaks and need ice climbing gear.

We set up camp and then needed to get a little ice for our whiskey, so we headed to the most logical place we could think of - Piedras Blancas. Here it is:

Yes, we did use that ice for our "rocks" when we got back and had a small amount of whiskey on the rocks.

The lake was fed by this glacier, and the water was delicious. I never entirely got used to drinking untreated water while we were in the park, but we definitely did it - in fact we never once used our water purifier.

The Breeder's Choice - apparently, being an expert on cows does not necessarily make you an expert on the finer points of distilling whiskey. This bottle tasted like it came from a rubbing alcohol plant, but mercifully, it was quite small.

The most spectacular part of our day - sunset from the edge of the campsite.

The next morning we attempted to see the sunrise on the mountains, but it ended up being a group of people standing around as it got lighter and lighter until it was daytime. We were forced to wander around near the base of these peaks instead.

Here's what we did:

*Sign tells you that you will most likely die in a horrible accident if you cross it - I know, I'm pretty much the most rebellious person you know, right?

Dana with the last of our Bariloche apples.

After our sunrise hike, we wandered over to Cerro Torre, which is arguably more well-known in the climbing community down here than Fitz Roy despite being approximately 300m shorter. On the way, we got to enjoy a few more incredible views of the Fitz Roy range.

Enjoying the fall colors on the way to Torre.

Cerro Torre is the point right in the middle of the photo and stands around 3,100m above sea level. Dana kept being lame and refusing to swim out to this ice berg for a cool photo op. I was super disappointed.

Sunset here was pretty cool.

After the sun went down that night, we were able to see Jupiter really well - you could even see the big red spot with the zoom on the iPhone camera. That camera is impressive.

The next day, we wandered down to our hostel again and stopped at the local brewery. It was decent, and the free popcorn was a wonderful little surprise.

After that, we had to stock up on food for a multi-day hike on a little-known circuit around the Huemul Massif some friends had mentioned to us and invited us along for. As we were in Argentina and hadn't tried every alfajor in the check-out area, we had to pick up the Oreo one. Dana's so good at selfies.

The following day we went on a boring walk to a pretty cool waterfall.

That evening, we met up with a German/Austrian couple for dinner before our hike around the Huemul Massif. Here's a picture of the guys hard at work.

Sarah and Martin serving everyone a fantastic lentil stew.

The group before leaving - Dana (US), Sarah (Austria), Martin (Germany), Brent (US), and Avi (Israel).

Avi wandering through the Patagonian fall colors and crossing small puddles. Thankfully the really bad river crossing is tomorrow and we can still be warm and dry today.

Dana enjoying all the oranges and reds in front of the Huemul Massif. From this point we can see the lake we're camping on tonight, though it isn't pictured here.

You can't really tell from this picture, but this particular Andean condor flew within about 20 feet of us while we were walking. We got closer to these birds multiple times than most bird watchers ever get. They're huge, impressive animals, and a little scary when they're headed right at you.

Wait, what? I was promised no river crossings today. Why's our bridge underwater?

Oh, come on! Why's it gotta be this deep?! Glacial rivers are cold.

Avi debating whether to try staying on the slippery, submerged log that was supposed to be the bridge until the river rose. He gave up and waded across like everyone else.

Stupid river...

Made it to camp and changed into dry shoes! Now it's time to find the water source.

Looks like it's slightly milky...

First morning on trail:

Stupid mice...

Walking around the lake to get to our highly-anticipated river crossing. We were told to go across the delta where we'd have to cross multiple small branches rather than the main channel of the river.

Oh, this is it? This doesn't seem that bad.

Okay, it was definitely worse than everyone was expecting. We thought it'd be cold, but we had no idea it was going to be like this.

According to Avi, Isrealis have a tradition of having to jump into a body of water in order to say they were actually there. If you don't skinny dip in the lake, your visit didn't happen. That means he's used to spending significant amounts of time in cold water. He screamed most of the way across the five or six little streams and wouldn't even consider jumping into the lake to prove he was there. It took Dana about 15 minutes to get back on her frozen feet. Sarah wasn't much better off, and I couldn't really feel my toes for another 20 minutes after this picture was taken. I don't know how Martin was feeling about the situation, but no one was warm.

While waiting there, some Germans came through with their guide. Apparently they were crossing the river in the morning and climbing to Paso del Viento (Pass of the Wind) to look at the South Patagonian Ice Field (third largest in the world behind Antarctica and Greenland), then coming BACK through this horrible river crossing after the glacier had been melting all day, raising the water levels.

On a side note, we heard that the cost of hiring a guide for the three-day out-and-back hike to Paso del Viento cost something like $900/person. Our trip was free except for the food (~$50/person) and we got to see much more of the ice field/glacier/mountains/etc. on the other side. It was awesome.

If you have the right gear, you can cross here and stay out of the water entirely. Unfortunately (or fortunately, because we had a cooler - see what I did there? - experience), we didn't have the harnesses you need.

We also felt it'd be stupid to try to grab the cable and pull yourself and your pack across above this:

We made it to the edge of the glacier.

For part of the hike, you get to actually walk on the glacier if you want to (a 2-hour guided hike on a glacier on the other side of Huemul costs something like $500/person, and ours was free). 

As an added bonus, if you're thirsty, you just find a little pocket of bright blue where the water is sitting and bend down.

So dang cool!

Avi and Martin

Eventually we had to get back off the glacier and start walking through the snow and mist to climb out of the bowl we were in.

As we climbed, we were able to see more and more of the glacier. We also started to notice this lake and the other glacier in front of it.

The trail was somewhat steep and left you with very little shelter from the wind. We imagine this would have been absolutely horrible on a windy day.

Not sure what her problem was. I thought the weather was nice, and I was enjoying the view.

The top of the pass had a couple lakes and a small patch of snow. Avi again declined to jump into these lakes, so as far as we know, he was never at Paso del Viento.

This was our view of the South Patagonian Ice Field from Paso del Viento. On a clearer day, you can see a lot more obviously, but even with the snow, you could definitely tell that this was a massive sheet of ice.

Relaxing at the highest point during our hike.

We then followed a river to our campsite, where we found a wonderful little shelter we could use for cooking and warming up out of the wind.

When we got inside, we found some cool silverware we could've used, but we decided not to test whether our tetanus shots were effective. Instead we made hot chocolate, soup, and mashed potatoes and ate them with our own utensils.

Hiking out of our site in the morning.

This is just a SMALL finger of the South Patagonian Ice Field, and we couldn't see either end of it. As we walked, the views kept getting more and more impressive.

After downclimbing this nonsense, we starting climbing up the other side of a valley toward Paso Huemul (Huemul Pass) to get back onto the other side of the mountain for the final night of our hike.

This is what we looked down on during our ascent. Unbelievable views the entire way.

Last view of this side of Glaciar Viedma (for the record, that's the Spanish spelling of "glacier"). The flow lines are awesome - it looks like the glacier knocks off chunks of rock from mountains it contacts, and then they sit on top of the ice, giving you the dark lines on the surface that you can see in the background of this picture. It's absolutely incredible.

This is what was waiting for us on the other side of the pass once we left Glaciar Viedma for the time being. Not too shabby, plus we were finally out of the wind!

Avi and Brent enjoying the views while we recover from the ascent.

Apparently, this is what we could've been looking at had we found the mirador - fortunately for us, Martin and Sarah found it and gave us pictures. We also got to see the glacier from closer down below several times.

This descent was stupid steep and coated with loose gravel and sand.

At one point, there's a dodgy-looking rope that you're supposed to rappel down. I was not overly comfortable because all I knew was that it had been left outside for an unspecified amount of time in one of the harshest climates in South America, and I was supposed to trust it with the weight of myself and a pack while dangling out over a 15 foot drop with no obvious way to stop myself from bouncing over the ledge and into an unknown plunge off the side of the Huemul Massif. Yay for fun!

After two nerve-wracking hours of descending unconsolidated garbage with a pack, we couldn't find the camp. Our otherwise unbelievably knowledgeable and helpful ranger friend had given us a rough estimate of the location of the camp on our maps and a description of how to find it. Apparently, the site officially marked on the map doesn't actually exist anymore, and we could never find the one the ranger told us about. Instead we found this place, set up camp out of the wind, and enjoyed a nice, quiet evening.

The next morning we were treated to another fantastic vista as we hiked towards our exit point.

The view just kept getting better throughout the day as well.

There was a significant amount of wandering around after losing the trail (sort of). The trail was unmarked, so it was basically just a matter of reading a map and wandering in the right general direction until you made it to the next major landmark. We finally found the trail and rested by a stream.

Our second glacial river crossing was later in the day, so we were warmer to start with, and the water was further from the glaciers, but it was also deeper. Avi and Brent went through first, then Martin, Sarah, and Dana followed.

We'd finally made it to the small dock where our hike would come to a close, and we all decided to jump in for a quick swim. Avi got a wonderful picture with the snow-covered mountains in the background reminding us that winter is coming to Patagonia.

Between the above picture and the one below was about 4.5km (estimated at ~1 hour) of walking according to the map. Unfortunately, the map neglected to mention that a bunch of people had spent a lot of money putting up barbed wire fences across the trail, making it virtually impossible to get back to El Chalten. It took us close to two hours and we wandered up and over hills in an attempt to avoid fences. Instead, we crossed a half dozen extra fields, dealt with several small stream crossings, and hundreds of sharp plants in a draining attempt at getting back to civilization. The takeaway is that you should only do this hike if you are equipped with wire cutters.

Finally home! Time for a huge asado!

Glaciar Perito Moreno - El Calafate

After saying goodbye to our friends in El Chalten, we headed to El Calafate to visit the Perito Moreno Glacier and decompress before our trip to Torres del Paine National Park in Chile. To get to Perito Moreno, you basically have to pay for a tour bus to take you, which we were disappointed about, but it turned out to be worthwhile. We spent the better part of a day there, and we had fantastic weather for it as well.

The highlight was watching a HUGE piece break off the glacier from underneath and come shooting up out of the water right in front of us.

We happened to be looking at the right place at the right time and saw this dark blue part break off the glacier and come shooting up from underneath the water.

The entire time you're at the glacier, you hear pieces falling off. By the time you hear it, it's too late to see anything, and you're constantly thinking you just missed a huge piece come loose. After watching for a while, you start to notice that the small pieces sound huge when they hit the water, and then you remember that the glacier is over 150 feet high, so the "small" pieces are actually about the size of cars.

When we got here, the glacier wasn't hanging over that small piece of rock in front of it.

This was taken shortly before we left. The glacier moves something like 2 meters per day and is one of the few glaciers in the world not getting smaller - it gets that much new snow and ice every day in the mountains above it.

Argentina's favorite drink is fernet, so obviously we had to at least try it while we were here. I would be lying if I told you I'd never heard it described as being made from liquified cigarette butts with a healthy dose of rubbing alcohol. If you drown it in Coca-Cola, it's pretty decent though.

We splurged and got a private room at a hostel in El Calafate and had the luxury of even having our own kitchen and bathroom for the price of a scary hotel in the US. As a result, we got to make our wonderful tacos without having to wait for the other 10 people in the main hostel kitchen.

We also met some cool Australians who were sitting on the porch outside our room and invited them in to cook with us.

Jez and Joel cooking their steak.

The following night, the hostel hosted an asado complete with chicken, beef sausage, pork sausage, blood wurst, and (obviously) steak.

We also got to drink wine out of penguins!

All in all, it was a wonderful way to spend some time in Argentinean Patagonia, and we're looking forward to our next adventure in Torres del Paine National Park, where we plan to hike the full circuit around the Paine Massif!