December 8 - 11
Nicole writes:
This was the longest bus ride that Nicole and I had (ever) been on. A total of 28 hours down a single road - Ruta 40, the national road of Argentina, and the one which Che Guevara traveled along on his motorcycle journey! The scenery during the first part of the ride (until dark) was very nice with the snow capped mountains in the near distance. Later in the evening, the cloud formations got funkier with a whole host of circular clouds which looked like UFOs :). (the latter comment was written by Rakesh :) ) In the morning, the scenery had drastically changed and for the most part was pretty rudimentary. The pampas, flat grasslands, went on for miles on either side. Along the way we spotted guanacos (similar to llamas) and wild horses. Much of the pampas were divided from the road by a fence, on which we saw 2 or 3 carcasses of guanacos that had clearly failed their attempt to jump over. The road was paved for the first part of the journey, but for the last half or so it was mostly graveled. We did notice, however, that works are in place to build a tarmac road! Until now, the road is not traveled much and along the way there are few inhabitants. We stopped off at several points to take breaks at gas stations and drove through a small town before reaching El Chalten.
Throughout our travels, so far, we met quite a few Belgians. In Peru, during our hike in Colca Canyon, I met a Belgian guy who went to the same school, the European School, that I did. He was 12 years younger, so I wouldn't have known him back then, but it was fun to talk about my primary school teacher (Ms. Brennan) that he knew of. That was one coincidence. The other, was even more of a coincidence...During one of our bus stops along the route toward El Chalten, I met a Belgian guy (also on our bus), who comes from the very same town that I grew up in (Hoeilaart)!!! What a small world we live in! We came to find out, later, that he is a famous rock climber and sponsored by Patagonia!! Our claim to fame!
Rakesh writes:
As we approached El Chalten, we got to see the beginnings of Patagonia in Argentina. The road to El Chalten breaks off from the main highway to turn right. The scenery here is fantastic. We rode on a glacial valley with mountains and a river on one side. On the other side, there is a huge lake Viedma, into which the glacier Viedma ends. The landscape is huge and the distances are deceiving. Even though we could see the end of the mountain, it took us an hour to get to El Chalten. Once there, we walked out with Taté into town to find a hostel. Taté was staying with her boyfriend in a chalet at the end of the town, but had a few recommendations for us. We did not have any prior reservation, and had to go around to a few places before finding accommodation for the night. On the way, I got distracted trying to fix a strap on my backpack, did not notice the break in the curb, slipped on the gravel and fell down on my hands and knees. Luckily I was able to break the fall on all fours, but the heavy backpack made it a hard fall. I was able to get up and did not feel anything at the time. We moved on to a hostel and found accommodation for two nights. We shared dorm rooms with noisy youngsters, but we managed as well as anyone can under these circumstances.
The weather in Patagonia can change in the blink of an eye, and we were told that the weather would not be great until our last day there :(... The next day morning however, we had clear skies. The receptionist at the hostel told us that we could do the Fitz Roy hike (Lago de los tres) that day if we absolutely had to, but that the wind gusts would be strong. Nicole and I decided to go ahead with the hike, as it was one of the longer hikes and the weather for the other two days was not all that great with rains being predicted.
The hike was really nice and easy in the beginning. We had some great views of the mountains and the valley and the city. The city of El Chalten is also quite nice. Just one main road and the scenery starts right at the end of the road.
20 minutes into the hike, I started feeling some irritation right above my ankle. I tried to see if it was a twig or something and continued into the hike. As the hike got more and more impressive; large granite Torres, including the partially cloud covered Fitz Roy, streams of glacial rivers and views of hanging glaciers from the mountains, my ankle got worse and worse. I discovered that my ankle hurt like hell if my foot twisted in one particular direction. Obviously, the fall from the previous day had done some damage and its results were just showing up. Nicole and I had come prepared. I took off my shoes and Nicole helped tie a bandage to stabilize my foot and we kept going. I walked funny and slow at times, just to make sure I didn't put too much pressure on the sprained ankle. The hiking poles we had were also very helpful.
We were told that the final climb to Fits Roy was difficult, but we found it relatively easier to the climb we had done in Yosemite. There were plenty of rocks to climb on and we had to take it very slow due to my foot.
Once we got closer to the top, we experienced wind gusts like never before. Nicole was practically pushed a couple of times and there were many instances (more than we care to remember), when we had to sit down together, or get behind a rock, just to avoid the gushing wind. What an experience.....
The views of the towers and the vista around was absolutely stunning (though the tip of the Fitz Roy was still covered in clouds). We made our way down to the glacial lake. We tasted some water from the lake, and tasted some more, and filled our bottles and drank from it twice. This was probably the best water both of us have ever had. It was cold, clear, and so incredibly tasty.... Moments like these made the climb up totally worthwhile (even with the sprained ankle!!).
After walking around to get views of an adjacent mountain lake, we had to make our way back. This was the toughest part for me. Going downhill with a bad ankle was rough. Half way through the hike, we stopped for a break and Nicole re-did my bandage in a different way to provide more support for my ankle. We also spotted a red-headed woodpecker which is prominently featured in all the postcards of the region. We also took a different detour on our hiking path to go past lake Capri.
On the way back, we turned around to see the view behind us and caught the Fitz Roy peak completely naked!!!! The evening winds had blown the cloud cover over and this was a really nice view. Later that evening, we went to a halfway decent restaurant to celebrate our triumphant hike.
The next day, we decided to rest. My ankle was roughed up and I did not want to make it worse. I was very keen on completing the entire trip and a days rest would do us some good from all the hiking we had been doing. We decided to change hostels that day and moved to one right across the road.
We were also broke that day.... Apparently the town of El Chalten has only one ATM machine, and it was out of cash. Nicole and I had not been carrying any extra cash at the time and we were out of cash. Taté and her boyfriend came to our rescue and bought us lunch that day. In the evening, we were able to buy some food from the grocery store as it was the only place that accepted a VISA card. We cooked and ate dinner at the hostel. Taking a day off to rest was also a blessing in disguise. It rained all day that day and we did not mind lazing around.
The next day was our final day in El Chalten. We were to catch a bus that evening to go to El Calafate. In the morning, Nicole and I set out to do one final hike in El Chalten called Laguna Torre. This hike was easier and went up to a glacier. We took an hour more than the recommended time to complete the hike (my ankle still hurt and had to walk slowly and take a few rest stops). We were still able to make it in time to grab a late lunch and catch our bus to El Calafate.
We also were able to take money out that day to pay back Taté. It was one of the funniest scenes we had ever seen. The entire tourist community had lined up in front of the ATM at the time it was to be replenished with money. We had to wait for 30 minutes until our turn to withdraw money from the ATM. Very funny experience.
Just before we caught our bus, we met Taté for coffee and said our goodbyes. It had been a truly great experience to meet her and travel with her.
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