Back in Argentina we headed to El Calafate, the main launch pad for the Southern half of the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares. This park is apparantly the closest thing you can get to Antartica without actually being there. We decided to splurge on a glacial cruise through the best of the park´s formidable ice sheets and ice-berg laden lakes. It was an impressive display of deep blues and moody skies and a particular highlight was the intimidating 400ft ice wall of the Spegazzini Glaciar. However, the longest glacier in the park, Upsala, was inaccessible due to an ice barrier formed by huge ice-bergs the size of office buildings. Since 1946, this glacier has retreated 7km and seems to be breaking up at an increasing rate but the good news is that the park´s famous Perito Moreno Glaciar is currently stable.
El Calafate would disappear into insignificance if it were not for the nearby glaciers, and the consequent flow of tourists. We didn´t like the town much due to the excessive tourism but we did manage to find an epic burger restaurant that served the biggest burger we´ve ever seen. I embraced the challenge with gusto and demolished the dinner-plate-sized monster burger. The genius of this memorable eatery is that the owner realised his customers would need to recover after such a feast, so provided comfy leather chairs to recline in after your meal, with The Discovery Channel to entertain you and fire to warm you. However, he did say 'sin dormir' (No sleeping!) as we took our seats with the eyes rolling in the back of our heads!
To access the northern half of Parque Nacional Los Glaciares we continued on to El Chaltén, the trekking capital of Argentina. The small town of 3,000 inhabitants was full of cute A-frame cabins and cosy restaurants with log burning stoves. Here we were to discover the other side of the coin when trekking in 'shoulder' season. Instead of the week of Autumnal sunshine we were treated to in Torres del Paine, we found ourselves caught in the middle of a severe Andean snow storm and camping in a foot of snow! Despite the cold we had a magical time hiking through beautiful snowy landscapes and enjoyed the total contrast to our last outdoor adventure. The elusive peaks of Monte Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre were rather shy and were completely obscured by the heavy snow-filled clouds on the first day. Fortunately, the second day was much clearer and Monte Fitz Roy gave us a sneaky peek of his 3,400m sheer granite face.
Patagonia continued to surprise us with its wide variety of plant life as we found Bamboo growing wild in the valleys of the Lake District and richly coloured Ñirre leaves in range of reds, oranges and yellows.
After warming up from the freezing temperatures in El Chaltén we headed north to Bariloche in search of a more pleasing climate. Bariloche is Argentina's biggest outdoor destination giving access to The Lake District and is packed with locals in the summer months. Thankfully for us the town was still enjoying the last of its Indian summer with blue sky days. This gave us the perfect opportunity to take on the Circuito Chico hike through Argentina´s oldest national park (Nahuel Huapi, created in 1934).
The hike started at Cerro Catedral, a local ski mountain, and our first surprise came when the Gondola (which is supposed to be open all year round) was closed. This meant a 3 hour hike to the top of the mountain (2,042m) to get to the start of the trail! When we emerged above the cloud line we forgot the pain in our burning legs and admired the stunning scenery. Eventually the cloud burned off as the day warmed up and we were rewarded with 360 degree views of the numerous lakes and mountins, as well as distant volcanoes. As we progressed we discovered that this high altitude hike would be our stiffest challenge yet. We had to overcome some tricky bouldering and rock climbing sections and the descent into the next valley was steep and slippery. The presence of patchy snow made things even more interesting as we occassionally sank down to our knees. With a bit of care we made it down safe and sound and set up a nice camp fire to warm our cockels. The next day was much easier going and we enjoyed the long valley walk through tunnels of Bamboo and Lenga trees.
We were thoroughly exhausted once again after the strenuous exersion, but felt satisfied as we had seen so many wonderful sights. Of course the main benefit of being in Argentina is that there is always a comfy bed, bottle of wine and juicy steak waiting at the end!
Next up we head to Pucón in Chile where we hope to climb a volcano and soak our aching muscles in some hotsprings. We also booked flights to Easter Island and will be arriving in the most remote island on earth on the 5th of May.... can't wait!
May need to turn your head for this one....
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