New pictures from El Chalten and the Fitz Roy are now available
Friday, 26 March 2010
El Chalten and the Fitzroy trek
Well, we have already decided. In the long lasting debate about which trek is better, The Torres del Paine beats the Fitzroy 41:36. Not to say that the Fitzroy is not beautiful. On the contrary! The Fitzroy trek gave us the best sunrise until now. Think of the opening statement as a great complement to the Torres del Paine. If you have only few days in Patagonia, go to the Torres. However, if you have more time, or if you prefer a place that is suitable for long day hikes - you should definatly visit El Chalten and the Fitzroy.
The way from Puerto Natales to El Chalten takes you through the relaxed but very touristic town El Calafate, where we started our Argentinian part of the trip. We slept there in a hospedaje, which is kind of a small guesthose that is located in the back of the house of a family, so basically you pass through their livingroom on your way to the room. Alechandra, the seniora of the hospadaje, is an old lady that looks and behaves like a wicked Eastern European house owner. As soon as we told her that we are from Israel, she narrowed her eyes into two thin slits and said in a terrifying voice: "NO AMIGOS!", which actually means: "I know you Israelies - taking one room and sleep with all the group". We agreed quickly and Alechandra took us to our room which was nice and cheap.
The main reason to visit El Calafate, except for the bus to El Chalten, is to see the Perito Moreno. This is a large glacier which is quite active and has won the nickname "The smashing glacier". The glacier moves about 2 meters every day, dropping pieces, that can be as small as an apple or as large as a 3 stories building to the water. These pieces smashes into the water with a sound of a thunder. There are, alas, more of the apple size falling pieces then the large building sized pieces, so most of the unpatient visitors might have quite a disappointing show. We, however, were lucky to see a large piece falls to the water when we joined an hour cruise to the far side of the glacier. Later, after the cruise we spend couple of hours on the large decks that are spread all over the peninsula that looks on the glacier. The lonely planet recommended to take the late bus to the glacier, which leaves at 13:30 and comes back at 20:30. That was a pretty dumb idea! It gets dark and cold at least an hour before that and the cafiteria closes at 18:30, so we just sat an hour in the bathrooms because it was the only warm place around.
The next stop was El Chalten which is a lovely, (very) little town in the valley near the Fitzroy and the Cerro Torre mountains. We´ve started the Fitzroy trek at the same day. We hiked to Laguna Torre, which has a nice lookout towards the pointed teeth that are the Cerro Torre and its fellow mountains. From the laguna we took the hard way to the Poincenot campsite that passes near the mother and daugther lakes (Lagunas Madre y Hija) . The next morning (if 5:30AM can be considered as morning...) we went up to see the colorfull sunrise. A hour of steep climb took us to the Los Tres Laguna where we saw the Fitzroy turns red for 3 minutes, not before waiting in the cold cold wind for almost an hour. One thing you´ll never take from Patagonia, it does have amazing sunsets and sunrises. We came back to town only to find that we have two extra days in the town before we can catch the bus to Bariloche. We spent the next day doing small hikes to two lookouts and a waterfall. At the evening, we got the full Argentinian experience when we ate two 420g steaks for less than 10$ each, and drank some wine.
The way from Puerto Natales to El Chalten takes you through the relaxed but very touristic town El Calafate, where we started our Argentinian part of the trip. We slept there in a hospedaje, which is kind of a small guesthose that is located in the back of the house of a family, so basically you pass through their livingroom on your way to the room. Alechandra, the seniora of the hospadaje, is an old lady that looks and behaves like a wicked Eastern European house owner. As soon as we told her that we are from Israel, she narrowed her eyes into two thin slits and said in a terrifying voice: "NO AMIGOS!", which actually means: "I know you Israelies - taking one room and sleep with all the group". We agreed quickly and Alechandra took us to our room which was nice and cheap.
The main reason to visit El Calafate, except for the bus to El Chalten, is to see the Perito Moreno. This is a large glacier which is quite active and has won the nickname "The smashing glacier". The glacier moves about 2 meters every day, dropping pieces, that can be as small as an apple or as large as a 3 stories building to the water. These pieces smashes into the water with a sound of a thunder. There are, alas, more of the apple size falling pieces then the large building sized pieces, so most of the unpatient visitors might have quite a disappointing show. We, however, were lucky to see a large piece falls to the water when we joined an hour cruise to the far side of the glacier. Later, after the cruise we spend couple of hours on the large decks that are spread all over the peninsula that looks on the glacier. The lonely planet recommended to take the late bus to the glacier, which leaves at 13:30 and comes back at 20:30. That was a pretty dumb idea! It gets dark and cold at least an hour before that and the cafiteria closes at 18:30, so we just sat an hour in the bathrooms because it was the only warm place around.
The next stop was El Chalten which is a lovely, (very) little town in the valley near the Fitzroy and the Cerro Torre mountains. We´ve started the Fitzroy trek at the same day. We hiked to Laguna Torre, which has a nice lookout towards the pointed teeth that are the Cerro Torre and its fellow mountains. From the laguna we took the hard way to the Poincenot campsite that passes near the mother and daugther lakes (Lagunas Madre y Hija) . The next morning (if 5:30AM can be considered as morning...) we went up to see the colorfull sunrise. A hour of steep climb took us to the Los Tres Laguna where we saw the Fitzroy turns red for 3 minutes, not before waiting in the cold cold wind for almost an hour. One thing you´ll never take from Patagonia, it does have amazing sunsets and sunrises. We came back to town only to find that we have two extra days in the town before we can catch the bus to Bariloche. We spent the next day doing small hikes to two lookouts and a waterfall. At the evening, we got the full Argentinian experience when we ate two 420g steaks for less than 10$ each, and drank some wine.
Today we are homeless, but we´ll also join the large Israeli migration towards Bariloche and get there right in time for Pessah.
Ver Treks en un mapa más grande
Tip 1: Take the cruise in the Perito Moreno. It is not that expensive (about 12$) and it's worth the money.
Ver Treks en un mapa más grande
Tip 1: Take the cruise in the Perito Moreno. It is not that expensive (about 12$) and it's worth the money.
Tip 2: Don't take the late bus to the Perito Moreno. Why? If you're asking that, you haven't read the post carefully.
Tip 3: Don't miss the waterfall north to El Chalten. It's less than an hour of easy walk from the town.
Tip 4: 10$ for a good 420g steak in Ahonikenk Chalten in the main square of El Chalten. Need we say more?
Monday, 22 March 2010
Friday, 19 March 2010
Puerto Natales and the Torres del Paine
Hola!
It means hello in spanish, it also means that you are in South America. Even if you are Chinese meeting another Chinese from your home town you will ¨hola¨ each other when passing.
But lets start at the beginning. Our trek to Torres del Paine was supposed to start with a bus picking us up from the hostel at 7:30 a.m on Sunday, but it didn´t. Apparantly, our Seniora (the landlady) was supposed to remind the bus, but she woke up to late...¨La falta¨ as she described it. So our departure was delayed until 14:30. We used this time to sleep a bit more and to visit the church, of course (since it was Sunday).
After few hours drive we arrived to the Torres del Paine. There we had to take a catamaran to the beginning of the trek. The main trail of the park looks like a W. We planned to finish the left (west) wing of the W on the first day. Because of the delay we had little time to do so. On the catamaran we met a group of people who intended to complete this part even thought it was quite late. So we decided to join them. We´ve had to do it in about 3 hours with all the equipment on our back (because it was already getting a bit dark). During the walk, it turned out that this group was part of a science expedition that has just returned from a month and a half in Antartica. Most of them were Geology and Paleontology (just like Ross!) students from USA and Sweeden, who were sent there as part of their studies. It seems that we have picked the wrong profession...
The next day we went north to see Glasier Grey. There was nothing Grey about it, it was very blue. The path to it goes through a beautiful forest near an amazing lake with small icy islands in it.
In general, the park is very well addapted for hiking. The trails are very well marked most of the time. There are lots of people of different ages and nationalities hiking around. But it was never too crowded. The park is also very clean, we haven´t seen even one piece of junk for five days.
Every now and then there is a campsite and ¨Refujios¨ which are a sort of a mountain cabins, which included 4 walls and a place to put your sleeping bag and cost about 50$ per person. It is also possible to purchase some food there, but the prices are high (6$ for a pack of pasta). We preffered to stay in our tent. We and all the mice around us enjoyed our pasta and monosodiun glotomat very much.
On the third day we left most of our equipment in the campsite and went to see the French valley. On the way we passed near a stormy lake. The strong wind raised a lot of water drops that turned into a rainbow in the morning sun and it was trully beautiful. The valley itself is a narrow valley surounded by sharp peaks covered with snow. There is a difficult climb up to the top of the valley where we passed by the narrowest part, where the river, that has created this valley flows down furiously, very close to the path. The climb continued until we arrived at the point where the 3 marble peaks that are the Torres del Paina can be seen from the rear side. The sun was perfect and view was amazing.
On our way back we met a very nice Corean girl who was travelling alone. As we walked together, it seemed as if she knew every second person we met.
The next day we took the catamaran back in the dirrectione of the Torres. Because of lack of time or energy we couldn´t do anything else that day.
At night we set up a campfire, and invited few other Israelis we met to join us for coffee and wine. The sky there was absolutely amazing, and of course very different from the northern sky we are used to. Oren desided to take a picture with a long exposure time. That picture finished his battery...He spent the next day looking for people that also had a Nikon in order to borrow their battery, so he can picture the Torres. Fortunately enougth, he found few. The climb to the Torres was quite steep, but the classic view of the Torres and the lake in front of them was worth the muscle ache.
Now we have a day in Puerto Natales before leaveing to El Calafate in Argentina.
Chao!
(Thats another word in spanish that you have to use in posts when you're in South America)
Tip 1: You can find very cheap accommodation in Puerto Natales. We had a twin bedroom in only 10$ per person, including breakfast, in Josmar hostel in Esmeralda and Prat.
Tip 2: The Israeli secret: all you can eat meats on the grill for 10$ in Juan hostel in Magallanes street. Look for the big Israeli flag in the window. Juan also has lectures about the Torres del Paine in Hebrew every day at 16:00.
Tip 3: Take the time to see some guanacos near the park enterance. Take few hours to move away from the enterance on the road to the catamaran and you´ll see them everywere.
Tip 4: In some of the campsites in the trek there are showers and electricity. Also, you don´t have to carry water with you - fill a small bottle with water from the small waterfalls on the way.
It means hello in spanish, it also means that you are in South America. Even if you are Chinese meeting another Chinese from your home town you will ¨hola¨ each other when passing.
But lets start at the beginning. Our trek to Torres del Paine was supposed to start with a bus picking us up from the hostel at 7:30 a.m on Sunday, but it didn´t. Apparantly, our Seniora (the landlady) was supposed to remind the bus, but she woke up to late...¨La falta¨ as she described it. So our departure was delayed until 14:30. We used this time to sleep a bit more and to visit the church, of course (since it was Sunday).
After few hours drive we arrived to the Torres del Paine. There we had to take a catamaran to the beginning of the trek. The main trail of the park looks like a W. We planned to finish the left (west) wing of the W on the first day. Because of the delay we had little time to do so. On the catamaran we met a group of people who intended to complete this part even thought it was quite late. So we decided to join them. We´ve had to do it in about 3 hours with all the equipment on our back (because it was already getting a bit dark). During the walk, it turned out that this group was part of a science expedition that has just returned from a month and a half in Antartica. Most of them were Geology and Paleontology (just like Ross!) students from USA and Sweeden, who were sent there as part of their studies. It seems that we have picked the wrong profession...
The next day we went north to see Glasier Grey. There was nothing Grey about it, it was very blue. The path to it goes through a beautiful forest near an amazing lake with small icy islands in it.
In general, the park is very well addapted for hiking. The trails are very well marked most of the time. There are lots of people of different ages and nationalities hiking around. But it was never too crowded. The park is also very clean, we haven´t seen even one piece of junk for five days.
Every now and then there is a campsite and ¨Refujios¨ which are a sort of a mountain cabins, which included 4 walls and a place to put your sleeping bag and cost about 50$ per person. It is also possible to purchase some food there, but the prices are high (6$ for a pack of pasta). We preffered to stay in our tent. We and all the mice around us enjoyed our pasta and monosodiun glotomat very much.
On the third day we left most of our equipment in the campsite and went to see the French valley. On the way we passed near a stormy lake. The strong wind raised a lot of water drops that turned into a rainbow in the morning sun and it was trully beautiful. The valley itself is a narrow valley surounded by sharp peaks covered with snow. There is a difficult climb up to the top of the valley where we passed by the narrowest part, where the river, that has created this valley flows down furiously, very close to the path. The climb continued until we arrived at the point where the 3 marble peaks that are the Torres del Paina can be seen from the rear side. The sun was perfect and view was amazing.
On our way back we met a very nice Corean girl who was travelling alone. As we walked together, it seemed as if she knew every second person we met.
The next day we took the catamaran back in the dirrectione of the Torres. Because of lack of time or energy we couldn´t do anything else that day.
At night we set up a campfire, and invited few other Israelis we met to join us for coffee and wine. The sky there was absolutely amazing, and of course very different from the northern sky we are used to. Oren desided to take a picture with a long exposure time. That picture finished his battery...He spent the next day looking for people that also had a Nikon in order to borrow their battery, so he can picture the Torres. Fortunately enougth, he found few. The climb to the Torres was quite steep, but the classic view of the Torres and the lake in front of them was worth the muscle ache.
Now we have a day in Puerto Natales before leaveing to El Calafate in Argentina.
Chao!
(Thats another word in spanish that you have to use in posts when you're in South America)
Tip 1: You can find very cheap accommodation in Puerto Natales. We had a twin bedroom in only 10$ per person, including breakfast, in Josmar hostel in Esmeralda and Prat.
Tip 2: The Israeli secret: all you can eat meats on the grill for 10$ in Juan hostel in Magallanes street. Look for the big Israeli flag in the window. Juan also has lectures about the Torres del Paine in Hebrew every day at 16:00.
Tip 3: Take the time to see some guanacos near the park enterance. Take few hours to move away from the enterance on the road to the catamaran and you´ll see them everywere.
Tip 4: In some of the campsites in the trek there are showers and electricity. Also, you don´t have to carry water with you - fill a small bottle with water from the small waterfalls on the way.
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