Our Trip to Patagonia

On the flight down from Brazil to Patagonia.

First of all let me start with something that is pretty obvious when you look at a map, South America is freaking huge!  Brazil alone is the size of the US (not including Alaska). When you look at Argentina it’s as long as the US is wide. Because I sometimes forget this in terms of travel time I was a little surprised that it took us the better part of the day to fly down to El Calafate, a small town in the far south of Argentina and our first destination on this epic adventure. Keep in mind we were flying from Sao Paulo, Brazil where we were living at the time. Going to nearly the bottom of the world takes some time, who knew?

Sao Paulo airport. Yes they still use VW buses. They were being manufactured until 2014 in Brazil.

Our trip started off on shaky feet.  When our cab pulled up to the apartment with very dim headlights in the very early morning I wondered if there was a problem and there was no way I could ask him about it in Portuguese. The airport was a solid 45 minutes from our place and sure enough, about 25 minutes into the journey the car quit and we coasted down the shoulder of the freeway and came to a stop. Fortunately for us the driver was on his cell and one of his taxi buddies was on the way for a rescue.

El Calafate

We were lucky and that was the only hitch in the travel; the connection from Buenos Aires to El Calafate was on time and everything went to plan. After a long day of travel we were able to settle into the amazing Esplendor El Calafate hotel and have a glass of wine or two. Style wise I really liked this hotel. There were amazing views of the lake and we really did enjoy the walk into town.

View from the hotel.

El Calafate is a charming little town on the edge of Lago Argentino and it’s mainly known as the gateway to Los Glaciares National Park, home to the massive Perito Moreno Glacier.  The main part of town has quite a few good restaurants and places to hang out but more than a couple of days here and I think you’d start to get a little bored.  Our main objective here was the Perito Moreno Glacier.

The walk from the hotel into town.

We took a bus into Los Glaciares National Park which is just so incredibly beautiful and well taken care of. I was continually amazed at what a good job the Argentine government has done in preserving this part of their country.  From the bus we got onto a boat to get a little closer look at the glacier. This was such a cool experience and one I would highly recommend. It’s kind of unreal to see the glacier up close and personal. These glaciers are actually growing in size and there is continual snowfall that pushes them and they calve all of the time (the process of large chunks breaking off and falling into the surrounding water is called calving).

Getting up close with the glacier.

After the boat we went to the visitors center and very well thought out and maintained observation decks. We bought a half bottle of wine and had a little lunch looking at the glacier and watching huge bits of it come off and splash into the lake. The weather was perfect for it and we had a great time.

We spent quite a while admiring the glacier.

After our two days in El Calafate we were headed into the heart of Argentine Patagonia and the trekking capital of the world El Chalten. El Chalten is a small mountain village actually located inside Los Glaciares National Park at the base of Cerro Torre and Cerro Fitz Roy. These are both very famous in the rock climbing and mountaineering communities as are many of the other spires that make up the range.

The Patagonia range.

We were there for the world class hiking and not the climbing, though I was able to do some bouldering at an area just out side of town. The town of El Chalten really only exists for the tourists that are there to hike or climb and apparently is a ghost town during the off season. We stayed at the charming Hotel La Aldea. As a side note, when we were in El Chalten cell phone reception did not exist and internet was satellite based so it can be unreliable and slow. A good time for a digital detox!

A glimpse of El Chalten from the trail.

Our first hike was out to Laguna Torre, which sits at the base of Cerro Torre, a very famous mountain in the Patagonian Ice Field that was first climbed in 1974. As a young climber I had read about the first ascent and even more recently my professional climber friends would show me their pictures and share stories of them climbing in Patagonia but I never thought I would see the famous spires in person. It was so stunning to see first hand even if I wasn’t going to attempt a summit. Everything about Patagonia makes it a very special place.

Cerro Torre in the background. Laguna Torre, Patagonia.

One of the non-hiking things we did in El Chalten was a guided glacier trek, complete with crampons and everything!  We took a long boat ride that weaved us through some icebergs (also cool to see up close) and then we anchored on the edge of the glacier. The trek wasn’t particularly long or difficult but it was a great way to see how vast the ice field is. It just goes on and on!  A couple of the highlights of the glacier trek were getting to go into an ice cave on the glacier and also drinking Bailey’s over 700 year old glacial ice!

That’s 700 year old glacial ice cooling down my Bailey’s.

The second big hike we did was to the ‘base’ of Fitz Roy. I say base but it was really to the camp ground before things got a little more intense. Further from where we stopped is the climbers campsite where they would wait for the right weather windows and push for an ascent. The Patagonia range is known for wild weather and unpredictability though with modern technology reading the weather seems to be getting a little easier. This is another famed peak that I never thought I would see in person. It was so stunning and again, the weather was just about perfect for our trip.  We even saw a condor high above us on the hike!

Cheers to Fitz Roy! A small pour from my flask of Breeders Choice whisky.

We did several other hikes during our time in El Chalten and so enjoyed the pristine condition of the trails and the whole national park. It was so beautiful and I feel very fortunate that I got to enjoy this amazing piece of nature. If hiking and unspoiled nature are your thing you really need to try and see Patagonia for yourself!

Shani and Fitz Roy.

It would be remiss to not mention the food. I had some great meals in Patagonia, both in the more developed El Calafate but also in El Chalten. In El Chalten I had one of the best steaks of my life, grass fed free range Argentinian grade A beef is out of this world good and there was plenty of great Argentinian red wine to drink with it.  A win win in my book!

Grillin some meat the traditional way.

If you would like more information on our trip to Patagonia or are interested in our exact itinerary just leave a comment or drop us a line and we’ll get back to you. You can see the whole Patagonia photo gallery here –  Argentine Patagonia Gallery.