El Chalten

El Chalten is a small town in Argentinian Patagonia in the Glacier National Park.

We (mom and dad) decided to visit because we had chosen to stay in the town of El Calafate nearby for three weeks and it turned out that the town boasts a spectacular glacier and not much else other than wind. We were tired of it so we decided to go to El Chalten to take a break from the cold and wind and limited activity options. Naturally, El Chalten was also cold and windy, but not as bad as El Calafate.

Another bonus was that our rental house there was far better than in El Calafate. The doors actually closed!! (long story short, the other rental was a bit run down.) We spent our time there doing things like a via ferrata. Via ferrata is Italian for iron way. It was like rock climbing, just not as hard and it was liability free because you were harnessed to a steel cable that ran along the route and was fixed to the rock by metal plates sticking out of the rock. You were attached to the cable by an idiot proof ¨c beaner¨ wich was a metal c with the open ends far enough apart to slide over the metal plates but too close together to pop off the rope. It was easy but still fun. It also ended with a zip line.

The zipline at the end.

The view from the via ferrata.

Sheep being sheard on an estancia.

Top of the via ferrata.

Tim climbing one of the steeper slopes.

We did other stuff like horseback riding (I named my horse Slow Mo Sam, see if you can guess why). After the horse ride we had a lamb for lunch at one of the nearby estancias. 

Pre-lunch appetizers.

We also did a long hike to the bottom of the Fitz-Roy mountain. The Fitz-Roy is a massive and spectacular mountain that sticks more or less straight out of the ground. Mom and Tim only went to the base of the steep and nasty part, while my dad and I continued to the frozen lake at the base and then scrambled our way down the loose boulder field they were inaccurately calling a ¨trail¨. The trail sucked but the views were nice and I got to eat an aflajor (south american sandwich cookie) so it was fine.

The Fitz-Roy from the top of our hike.

A fox we saw on the hike.

A panormic view from the top of our hike.

Overall, El Chalten is a nice town, it's just touristy. Also, it is guaranteed to be cold and windy at all times.

I hope you have not enjoyed this whatever you call it.

Rheas, a smaller relative to the ostrich.

More Fitz-Roy.

Tim climbing on a brige we found. (it was my idea)

A woodpecker my brother spotted.

Notable Quotables:

Carol: I'm going to need a second coat.

Neil: I'll have your Guanaco license revoked.

Carol: You know you're in trouble when you are trying to figure out how to ask in Spanish, "Is this [hike] worth it?"