El Calafate, Argentina
We left Chile and crossed back into Argentina this resulted in another long and delayed bus journey to reach our next stop – El Calafate. Essentially any bus journey that involves crossing a border (particularly Chilean ones) is guaranteed to experience delays. El Calafate’s sole existence is due to it’s proximity to the majestic Perito Moreno glacier. The town felt more touristy than our previous destinations, with its main street brimming with expensive restaurants and souvenir shops. We sampled two of the restaurants all in the name of football so we could watch the world cup qualifiers between Brazil and Argentina (Argentina’s defeat didn’t make for the best dining atmosphere), and Ireland and Austria (Ireland’s triumph was heartily celebrated by Caoimh). During our first visit to El Calafate we stayed in America del Sur, a great hostel situated on a hill and with an incredible panoramic view of Lake Argentina.
There are three main ways to see the glacier – buy the basic entry that gives you access to the multiple walkaways in front of the glacier, take a boat trip or option for the pricier option of hiking on the glacier. We decided to go with the latter for two main reasons – Perito Moreno is considered the ‘best’ glacier in the world and at the rate at which the glaciers are receding due to global warming the opportunity to climb on the glaciers may be diminishing too. The only company permitted to hike on the glacier is Hielo y Adventura and because they have a monopoly their packages are expensive. They offer two tours – ‘Big Ice’ and ‘Mini-Trekking’, the first involves a three hour hike to the centre of the glacier but also requires proper hiking boots so we optioned for the 90 minute ‘Mini-Trekking’ instead. We arrived in El Calafate on a Thursday afternoon and headed straight to their office to book, despite the short notice we were able to secure spaces for the following day (apparently during the height of Summer you must book ahead).
The next morning, we were collected from our accommodation and we travelled by mini bus to the entrance of Los Glaciares National Park where we purchased park tickets (across Patagonia all trips and tours excluded park entrance fees). From here we were dropped to the walkways and given a couple of hours free time to explore unguided. The walkaways alone was an incredible experience. We were pleasantly surprised by how close the viewing platforms were to the glacier and it really did make for front row viewing (in fact the boat trips didn’t seem to get much closer because the water directly in front of the glacier was filled with icebergs). Moments after arriving at the platforms, we were treated to a massive piece of ice crashing into the water below causing far reaching waves. We spent hours gazing at the huge icy mass with accents of deep blue and witnessed many more examples of ice breaking and falling into the lake below. Later we learned that the glacier is constantly moving forward but since reaching its current location it is neither advancing or retreating which is unusual for a glacier. The ice mass grows at the top and forces movement forward where the ice breaks off and falls into the water at the edge of the glacier. Due to its position the glacier actually creates a dam for this lake as it grows to block the natural flow of water and the pressure of the water builds up to break through the iceberg underwater and above eventually causing a spectacular crash of the dam and release of water from one side of the glacier to the other.
In the afternoon we took a boat to the opposite shore and the starting point of the mini trek where the glacier and land meet. We donned some medieval style crampons before literally taking to the ice. Our group of 15 was accompanied by two guides who led us across the surface of the large ice mass. From a distance the ice looks white but up close it is imbued with years of grit and soil. We followed our guides diligently as at times they hacked out a safe path around the many blue tinged crevices and pools of crystal clear water. At one point we had the opportunity to sample the water – pure, fresh and icy cool as expected. Before exiting the glacier we treated to a glass of whiskey served with glacier ice older than the whiskey itself – a nice (and warming) way to finish off a memorable day.
Having seen the star attraction of the area we decided to continue on to our next destination and return to El Calafate for a night or two before our flight up to Barlioche. We left happy, with our day trip to Perito Mereno becoming a major highlight of our South American leg of the trip.
El Chaltén, Argentina
It was on to El Chaltén, a small town in Los Glaciares National park that is nestled in the shadow of Mount Fitz Roy, located a few hours from El Calafate. The town was much smaller than our previous stops but boasts easy accessibility to the trails around the nearby peaks of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field and unlike other Patagonian places there was no park entrance fees which was welcome after some expensive tours in our previous destinations. Over a decade ago the town was nothing more than a few buildings but now thanks to tourism is a lively town filled with restaurants and tourist accommodation. The boost in popularity seems to be on-going as we saw signs of construction on practically every street and though it lacks a major attraction like neighbouring towns it was probably our favourite overall town in Patagonia. In total we spent four nights in the town, staying in Patagonia Adventure Hostel and availing of the multiple free hikes in the vicinity.
On our first full day we awoke to a rainy morning, by the time the rain stalled it was early afternoon so we started with the easiest and shortest of the hikes – Lós Cóndores and Las Águilas which overlooks the town. Unfortunately the persistent cloud cover ensured that we wouldn’t get a glimpse of Fitz Roy on our first day but was an easy warm-up to a couple of days of more intense hiking.
On day two we decided to head to Laguna De Los Tres. Laguna De Los Tres is the hardest of the day hikes in the area, totaling 20 km round trip it starts with moderate hike before culminating in a very steep climb to the glacier lake for which the hike is named. The lake offers the closest view of Fitz Roy which towers in the background. We took the trail via Laguna Capri which is another individual hike or can be seen en route to Laguna De Los Tres. We arrived at Laguna Capri in short sleeves but by the time we were leaving we were donning hats and fleeces as the first snowflakes began to fall (the light snowfall followed us the whole way back to El Chaltén). The hike took us a total of eight hours with brief stops along the way for lunch and snacks. Initially we thought the time estimates for the hike were more than generous as we arrived at the last kilometre mark but the following hour plus was a tough vertical climb up the mountain to reach the lake. We were rewarded with some incredible snow capped views of the surrounding landscape but sadly Fitz Roy stayed firmly hidden behind a mask of clouds. The bitter cold meant that our stop at the top of the lake was short lived. Needless to say by the time we arrived back in El Chaltén we were utterly exhausted so, we rounded off the day with delicious craft beer and burgers in B&B (Burgers & Beers).
On our final full day we embarked on the most popular day hike near El Chaltén – Laguna Torre. At a distance of 18 km, the hike is more gradual than Laguna De Los Tres and meanders along a river, through forests before finishing at a glacier lake topped with icebergs. The end view and elevation was not as spectacular as the previous day but still an enjoyable hike through incredible scenery.
With our energy for hikes depleted we decided to head back to El Calafate for a couple of days of internet-ing and organisation before our flight to Barlioche (internet in El Chaltén is almost non- existent). We really enjoyed our stay in El Chaltén and we could easily have spent longer in the small Argentinian town but it was back to the mainstream for some much needed leg rest! 🙂
El Calafate Two, Argentina
Back when we were in Punta Arenas we booked flights from El Calafate to Barlioche, although double the cost, a 2 hour flight was much more appealing than a 30 hour bus journey on windy roads – pesos well spent in my opinion. We wanted to stay in America del Sur again but in the space of 5 days the price for a dorm had gone up by 66%! It seemed as if we had hit mid November and a giant switch was flipped causing prices across Patagonia to sky rocket. We ended up staying in a small hostel down by the lake which wasn’t great but okay for two nights. A big plus of the location was that while cooking breakfast it was a nice surprise to see the flamingos from the nearby reserve take flight across the lake.
Taking a break from the tours and long hikes the only activity we ended up doing was playing a quick game of tennis in a local sports centre we stumbled across. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the only thing that stumbled as a certain stubbly someone injured their ankle during a crucial point in the match, the winner of the match was never determined but the debates are on-going. The rest of our time in El Calafate was spent icing said ankle and planning our onwards adventures before taking our evening flight to Bariloche.
Bariloche, Argentina
Barlioche felt less Patagonian then the other stops on our route as it was much further North. Stepping off the plane we were greeted to balmy weather and late evening sun. Our warm clothes were packed away and gladly swapped for more Summer appropriate attire. The town itself was much larger than the others and was the first that felt like it didn’t exist solely on tourism.
Our time in Bariloche centred around catch-up with new friends we had met along the way, specifically ones from Cork. As we crossed the Bolivian border we met an Italian girl who had been living in Cork for the last number of years. She was en route to Bariloche where she was planning on working in the widely popular gastro pub Manush. After spending a couple of days with her we promised to meet up when we made it to Barlioche. We also met two Corkonian lads as we were leaving El Chaltén. We quickly realised we were on the same flight to Bariloche a couple of days later so we made loose plans to grab some Friday night drinks together. We shared a taxi from the airport and agreed to reconvene at one of the recommended bars in their lonely planet book. It turns out the guide book was outdated on a number of fronts and the highlighted night spot was now closed but somehow we managed to cross paths in the nearest Irish bar – we’re a predictable bunch sometimes! 🙂 We joined them for some casual food before sampling a few of the nearby (and not scheduled to be demolished) bars. Barlioche was also our re-acquaintance with fernet but this time without the coke which I don’t think any of us enjoyed and firmly ended our relationship with the drink once and for all.
Between the tennis injury and fernet after effect, the following day was a low key one spent in our hostel, Periko’s. Periko’s hostel was one of our favourites in South America with a very reasonably priced hotel like private room, excellent facilities and extremely helpful staff. We eventually surface to sample some hearty Manush food before having an early night.
On Sunday having fully recovered from our antics we took a bus to to Cerro Campanario. Still nursing an injured ankle we forewent the short, steep hike and took the chairlift up to the viewpoint and were treated to incredible views of the surrounding lakes. Picture perfect blue skies framed some of the most picturesque views to date. Eventually we headed back into town where we met our Italian friend for lunch before exploring the town on foot. We finished off the afternoon with gelato and a chilly foot paddle in the clear waters of Nahuel Huapi Lake before getting ready to bid farewell to Patagonia and take one of our final long buses of South America up to Mendoza.
