Los Glaciares National Park

Thursday was another drive day with our last border crossing between Chile and Argentina. We had a relatively late start though as there wasn't too much distance to cover. The talk over breakfast however was about the state of the toilets as someone had obviously not made it to toilet in time and had left an incredibly large amount of liquid poo all over the toilet, floor, wall, and even the ceiling! We got to the border in little over an hour and even got through the border in about an hour which was very good compared to some previous efforts. The drive however after was on a gravel road so it was very bumpy, although it was compensated by amazing scenery. We stopped for a very windy lunch near one of our previous stops in El Calafate, having pasta, before continuing onto our final destination of El Chalten, arriving late afternoon in the pouring rain.

El Chaltén is small remote Patagonian town nestled under the shadow of the iconic Mt. Fitz Roy. The town itself has an interesting origin - the area was disputed between Argentina and Chile for a number of years, so the Argentinians thought they would settle the argument by hastily building the town of El Chaltén in 1985 to claim the territory! The name of Chaltén comes from the Tehuelche word for 'smoky mountain', so called as the early morning clouds gathering around Fitz Roy look remarkably like volcanic smoke. However, the town has grown immensely in recent years and decades, becoming a major centre for adventure tourism in Argentina. It is a fantastic base from which to explore the northern sections of the incredible Los Glaciares National Park. I had a pretty chilled out evening, attempting to get WiFi without success at dinner where I had a beef thing, before conceding and relaxing at the hostel with a couple of beers and games of pool before bed.

Come morning I had no real plans despite the abundance of hiking in the area, and just ended up having a lazy morning, even getting my first significant go at wifi for a very long time. For breakfast a few of us went out to this waffle place, although it was closed upon arrival so we went elsewhere for a drink before returning where I had a waffle with ham, cheese, tomato, and basil which was really good. It was afternoon by the time I ended up having breakfast though as everywhere opened so late, although I did pop down to national park visitor centre to pick up a map of the park.

Los Glaciares National Park is the largest protected area in Argentina, covering a huge area of Argentinian Patagonia along the southern tail of the Andes range. The National Park is home to some of the most spectacular scenery in all of South America. This is classic picture-book Patagonia, and wherever you turn you're surrounded by wide open skies, magnificent mountains, incredible glaciers, glistening lakes and thick verdant forest. By far the best way to explore is to get out on foot. As well as the phenomenal needle-like Cerro Torre, the iconic mountain of Fitz Roy looms over El Chaltén, an impossibly-picturesque and steep mountain (which is also the logo for the 'Patagonia' clothing brand!) which can be viewed from many angles on treks in the area.

Not feeling like a serious hike, I went out for a short hike up to a couple of viewpoints to firstly see a view of Lake Viedma, which also had a brilliant view of Fitzroy, as well as going to a viewpoint with a view of the town as well as a another view of Fitzroy. We sat up here for a while although it was very windy after a while. After heading back down and through the town back to the hostel, I went for another short hike alone to see a waterfall which was about a 45 minute walk away. It was a nice little walk along the river and the waterfall was pretty impressive yet busy. When returning I relaxed, and for dinner just bought some empanadas and spent the evening in the hostel before having an early night.

Saturday was the day with the best weather forecast so I decided that was the day to hike up to Lago de los tres which sits at the base of Mount Fitzroy. After getting a few bits from the bakery, I set off with a few others to do the hike. We couldn't go as a big group however as it is a legal requirement to have a guide if you're in a tour group in Argentina, and seeing as the majority of my group wanted to do the hikes we had to leave at scattered times. The hike itself started at the end of the road of my hostel, and immediately started going up through woodland until we were presented with views of the creel below.

A bit further down the route we reached a viewpoint where we could see Fitzroy although it was a little cloudy. The route from there was pretty flat crossing small creeks and going through sections of open land, and occasionally woodland until we reached the final section was effectively had 400m height gain over 1km. The path was very steep but at the top we reached the lake and got a great view of Fitzroy and the surrounding mountains. There were at few different viewpoints although it was very exposed and windy up there. We had lunch up here too, sheltering behind a rock to get out the wind!

After lunch we headed back down the same way, with the path being very wet and slippery going down until levelling out again. The views and scenery was just as good going back, and we got back to the hostel by like half 5 in the end.  Come evening it was a big occasion in the Argentinian football calendar with it being Boca Juniors v River Plate, the superclasico, so after a few beers and dinner I went to a local bar to watch the game. It was full of River Plate fans, and the place erupted when they scored, it was a really good atmosphere and River Plate won 2 0. We then continued drinking before going to the mistico disco which was actually really good. It was a late night in the end.

I had a nice lie in on Sunday after the previous nights antics, although I still went for hike, this time to Laguna Torre. I didn't until like 11 though, going to bakery en route for food. The hike started near the hostel and went up into this valley with views of the Cerro Torre, the needle like mountain. It was pretty cloudy though and very moist in the air. When arriving at the lake, I followed it round to get a view of this glacier which was impressive, with a few icebergs even floating in the lake as I walked round. The skies were very overcast though. I spent a while getting different views before heading back the same route to El Chaltén. When arriving back I just relaxed before getting some empanadas and even some decent fruit for dinner. I then had an early night ready for the start of a 3000km drive to BA starting from tomorrow!