In Patagonia - Trekking in the Andes

Pretty much anybody who travels to this area of the world is recommended to read Bruce Chatwin's book "In Patagonia". It documents his personal travels through Patagonia and the bizarre stories and encounters he experiences. A very entertaining read

Part 1: El Calafate and Perito Moreno

We touched down with a minimal amount of fuss in El Calafate on a bright and clear Monday afternoon. It wasn't until baggage reclaim that our next disaster struck.

My bag had been left in Buenos Aires and all I had was my little daypack and the clothes I was wearing. The staff assured me that this was normal (!!!) and that they would drop my bags off at the hostel when they came in on a later flight that evening.

Our hostel's name was "I Keu Ken" which was up on the hill in El Calafate.

Our first hostel "i Keu Ken" in Calafate

The town itself had a bit of the feel of a little American mining town to it. It is situated next to the large Lago (lake) Argentino which has a very clear and deep turquoise colour. The lakes in the region are all filled by melting glacial ice-water which is how they get this colour

After settling in at the hostel, we took a stroll through the town whose main street has many outdoor shops, restaurants and bars. 90% of the people walking around had large backpacks on and had a slightly unwashed look so we knew we were in the right place.

You could even go in and meet a real Argentine Mum!

We took a short walk towards the Lagoon Nimez north of town which was very pleasant and relaxing. The daisy fields made for some particularly un-macho pictures.

Posing in the daisies

Getting back to the hostel, we booked our tickets to the Perito Merino Glacier which is the most famous attraction for this town before relaxing as the evening set in. By this time my bag had also arrived which was a great relief. As I wheeled it about I attracted some interested stares as apparently bags with wheels are not particularly common around there at all!

We met several interesting people in the hostel including a South African M&A banker (Johan), a German couple, (Stefan and Melanie) and an Englishman called Nick who turned out to have a few of the same friends as mine from the UK!

The next morning we were picked up at 9am for the glacier expedition. The journey was a 1 hour bus drive through some stunning scenery. When we finally reached the Glacier, the views were absolutely breathtaking. A huge carpet of ice was laid out over the mountains and well into the distance.


The observation balconies we were on allowed us to see where the wall of the glacier met the Lago Argentino. Loud, deep growls and cracking noises signalled that the glacial spires were breaking off (calving) and we could see whole 60 metre spires of ice collapsing into the lake.

Perito Merino Glacier

The balconies were dotted around so we could walk to get different views. Shortly after we were ushered back onto the bus to start the next part of the expedition, the Glacial Ice Trek. We were dropped off at small docking beach and clambered onto a large boat which took us off to the opposite side of the lake and right next to the glacier.


We were met by our guide Luis who gave a small speech, explaining the basics of Glacier formation. They are created by large snowfalls in valleys which compact each other to such an extent that they form ice sheets. Due to the weight and slope of the valleys, there is pressure for the sheets to move downslope at rates of up to a few feet a day. From there we were taken to the crampon fitting station where we were allocated our own sets of crampons and led onto the glacier.

Our guide, Luis who got to show the "Gringos" around

Crunching the ice

The sensation of crunching around on the ice was pretty exciting. Marching single file we were shown sink holes, crevasses and small rivers in the glacier which had pure water that was perfect for drinking (although gave severe brain freeze!)

Irina looking down a sink hole

The tour ended up with a nice cool Jameson's whiskey on the rocks (glacial ice rocks) and a few chocolate biscuits. I cheekily asked for a double which resulted in me getting at least a triple shot in my glass! The walk back was tipsy to say the least!


When we got back to the hostel we were so exhausted that we could only just manage to cook dinner and play some cards before hitting the hay.

Next morning was our bus drive to El Chalten!

Part 2: El Chalten, Mount Fitz Roy and Cerro Torres

We hopped onto our bus and were off on the 4 hour drive to El Chalten. The Patagonian plains are mainly composed of mellow hills and lots of low, sparse scrub which reminded me a bit of the Karoo in South Africa.

The town of El CHalten however was very different. It is located in a very green valley flanked by steep mountain sides. Our first view of Mount Fitz Roy showed a large "smoking" spire in the distance

I am currently writing this blog entry in the Albergue Patagonia hostel which will be our home for the next 6 days or so.

The Albergue Patagonia Hostel

Currently we are planning to rent some camping equipment (tent, sleeping bag, mattress) and hike up one of the trails and spend a few nights up there. We just need to get enough food for 3 days and a few bottles of whiskey to keep us warm!

This town is far smaller than Calafate and is the newest town in the whole of Argentina. I think it was developed as early as the 1980s as a town for tourists and national park officials to view the stunning scenery and maintain the clean glacial water that originates from here. For this reason there are very strict rules about conduct in the national park. Smoking is prohibited on the trails and no fires may be made at all.

Other than that it seems there is simply a main road with most of the hostels and facilities on here. There is only one ATM!!! and that was only built in the last 2 months. The town has a microbrewery which does a fairly good Bock beer

Anyway I think it is my turn to do the cooking tonight so will have to return to the blog a bit later...

[A short while later]

The cooking was a fairly interesting affair. The pasta came out as a big doughy lump and the tomato puree we added just tasted of ketchup. However, we managed to finish most of it! I think this was more testament to us being half-starved than the quality of the meal.

Preparation for our hiking is complete! Our plan is as follows: Hike north-east to Piedro del Fraile and Lago Electrico (2.5 hrs) and camp for the night. The following day, hike to Poincenot base camp and view Fitz Roy up close (7 hrs). Final day, hike to Lago Toro to view the glacier there and make our wy back to town for a party (8hrs).

We bought food to last us the 3 days. This was mainly pasta and crackers and biscuits as well as the essential "Dulce de Leche".

On the day, the weather was turning fairly sour. Rain and strong winds had moved in and we knew the hike was not going to be comfortable. We made it to Piedro del Fraile (campsite beneath Lago Electrico) in around 2.5 hrs, thoroughly soaked by the rain and barely feeling our toes and fingers. Setting up our tent was a challenge to say the least! The weather continued to deteriorate and we were forced to remain at the camp site to weather out the storm. The warmest place was inside the small restaurant cabin that charged ridiculous prices to hikers. Luckily they weren't too fussed we hung out there as long as we bought something.



We met an interesting American couple at the site (Mike and Harriet) who were from San Francisco and absolutely fanatical hikers. There were some Italians, Spanish and a Belgian guy too. The Belgian guy looked like he hadn't washed in a few weeks and when he got close, his wafting scent confirmed this.

The campsite and restaurant

Luckily we were in a fairly sheltered area so our tent was unlikely to be dislodged by the wind. We struggled to get sleep as the wind, rain and snow pounded our tent for the entire night and into the morning! We were up at around 9am and things were starting to improve (although throughout the hike there was light snowfall). We packed up and started the trek to Poincenot and Mount Fitz Roy. After taking a few "shortcuts" across unmarked paths we finally made it to camp.



The weather was now excellent so we took a steep hike up to Lago de Los Tres which sits at the base of Fitz Roy. Once we got to the top the views were amazing. It really is incredible sitting up there. The lake itself is formed from the melting glacial ice and is a stunning translucent shade of blue. I sat there without uttering a word for over 30mins. We also luckily managed to see a Condor gliding through the valley

Pretty Spectacular

After drinking the ice cold water (it is said that drinking it will increase one's fertility) and taking loads of pictures we finally started to feel the cold and reluctantly decided to walk back down.
That evening we were freezing! Cheap Whiskey and hot tea carried us through in the end and we managed to get far better rest than the previous night.

Day 3 we packed up and got going to Lago Toro. After an initial hour of walking on the wrong trail we got back on track and arrived at the lake. The weather wasn't perfect but we still managed to get some excellent views of the lake and glacier.




We were getting fairly desperate for a warm bed and shower so we didn't linger. Riverdance set a ferocious pace in her mission to reach El Chalten and its hygiene facilities. In 4 hours we crossed the final hill and saw the town! Despite the great time we had had, we were totally exhausted and ached all over. We rushed down and checked into one of the Alberge Patagonia's premier rooms (en suite bathroom - YES PLEASE!!!)



All in all we had covered close to 60km in 3 days through some interesting weather.
As it was Saturday and we felt like celebrating and met up with Nick and Adam (Aussie) for a steak dinner and some beer and wine.



Now I'm sitting on my bed fairly worse for wear but totally happy :)