Post written by Laura
Kayaking and Hiking
On our recent trip to Argentina, my friend Bridget and I stayed for 3 nights in El Chalten and these were our activities:
- Day 1: kayak followed by a short hike
- Day 2: long Laguna de Los Tres full day hike
- Day 3: hike to Laguna Torre
Our G Adventures group met in the reception of our Buenos Aires hotel at 5.45 am to be taken by mini bus to the Jorge Newbery domestic airport ready for our 3 hour flight south to Calafate in Argentinian Patagonia.
The Aerolineas Argentinas flight was on time. It is not permitted to take organic foods into Patagonia and all of our baggage was scanned upon arrival at Calafate airport.
Once the group were assembled we boarded a minibus and began our 3 hour drive north to the small isolated town of El Chalten.
We were surprised by the barron desolate Patagonian landscape. During our journey our G Adventures guide Flor gave us information on the local animals, flora and fauna. Patagonia is famous for its unpredictable weather and it notorious winds. On this day the weather was mild, at around 16 degrees and fairly sunny however we were warned to be prepared to experience all 4 seasons in one day!
On the way, we stopped for a snack in Parador La Leona which is exactly half way between El Calafate and El Chaltan. This historic place sells coffees, soft drinks, cakes, empanadas etc. It was here that Francisco P. Moreno (Perito Moreno) was attacked by a female puma, called a ‘Leona’ in Patagonian slang, which is where the name of the river came from.
A bridge was finished in 1974, and until then, people had to cross the river by raft.
Parador La Leona is located on Ruta 40 the 5194 km road which stretches the length of Argentina, parallel to the Andes mountains. Chris and I had hired a car 8 years ago and drove along a rough and bumpy section many miles to the north when we did a road trip from Salta.
El Chalten is a village located in the Santa Cruz region of Patagonia and with its close proximity to the Fitz Roy mountain range, it is popular with hikers and is often referred to as “the trekking capital of Argentina”.
As we neared El Chalten, we were excited to see the Fitz Roy range looming into view even though the top of Mount Fitz Roy itself was covered in cloud.
Our driver stopped to enable us to disembark the minibus and take some photos.
We then continued on our way…
El Chalten is located inside the Los Glaciares national park and we had another short stop at this designated view point before the final few minutes drive to the hotel. The Los Glaciares national park was established in 1937 and has the largest ice cap outside of Antarctica. Los Glaciares borders the Torres del Paine national park in Chile.
On a clear day, Fitz Roy can be seen from El Chalten.
Kayak
Following our arrival in El Chalten, a short group orientation walk the previous afternoon and a group dinner, our first main activity on the first full day was kayaking! Our group was driven by mini bus for an hour or so alongside the picturesque Rio de las Vueltas river valley until we reached the kayak place.
We got changed into wetsuits, had a short briefing then set off back in the minibus for a further 10 minutes ready to start the kayaking.
We were given important instructions such as how to steer!
We settled into our kayaks in pairs, and for us, I was at the front and Bridget at the back. Sadly things didn’t go too well and it wasn’t long before we had a mini drama… Bridget and I got stuck in a current, hit a branch and both were tipped off into the icy glacier melt waters of the river 😦
We were then re-paired into different kayaks and each with a strapping young Croatian steering, and we made it further down the river. I then switched to be paired up with Bart and continued kayaking down the turquoise river for an hour or so.
Even though the morning was cloudy and with the odd minor drizzle of rain, the scenery was spectacular. The choppy section of river with the strong current had eased off and the kayaking was quite pleasant for the rest of our journey along the river.
The kayak tour ended back at the kayak place and we had warm log cabin changing rooms to change into our dry clothes. We were given a drink each and enjoyed a small buffet lunch before leaving.
Instead of taking us all the way back to El Chalten, Leandro, the mini bus driver dropped us off near to the Chorrillo del Salto waterfall to enable us to see the waterfall and then hike one of the short national park trails back to El Chalten. And by the afternoon the sun was shining!
The Chorrollio del Salto waterfall has a drop of 20 meters and flows into the De Las Vueltas river. During the winter months, when the temperature drops to -20 degrees, this waterfall freezes over.
The trek back to El Chalten was mostly flat and through woodland and meadows lined with wild flowers.
We saw more parrots up in the trees.
Towards the end, as we approached El Chalten, we had to ascend a hill which gave us panoramic views of the river valley.
Day 2: Hike Laguna de los Tres to Fitz Roy
This epic full day hike is covered in the next post.
Day 3: Laguna Torre hike
For our final morning in El Chalten we had free time to choose our own activities and Bridget and I did the Laguna Torre self guided hike.
We followed the path through the valley high above the Fitz Roy river. After an initial short climb, the first viewpoint is across the gorge to the Margarita waterfall. (The waterfall is in the gap in the rocks above… it isn’t exactly huge…)
After the short initial climb, much of the walk is flat and lined with pretty spring flowers.
Although at points there is some scrambling involved!
We walked for about 5 km to the panoramic viewpoint of the Cerro Torre and granite needles which was about half way along the full walk.
As we had completed the full tough Laguna de los Tres on the previous day, we decided 5 km was enough and returned to El Chalten in time for lunch 🙂
Food and Drink
For our G Adventures first group meal in El Chalten Flor, our guide, took us to La Tapera, a small restaurant in a wooden hut which was virtually next door to our hotel.
There was a good selection on the menu with steaks and pastas and also several vegetarian options. I had ‘Vegetable Strudel’ which was tasty. Flor recommended a Patagonian Malbec from the ‘Saurus’ estate which was enjoyed by most of the group and is one to be noted!
Afterwards, Bridget and I, together with new G Adventures friends Fred, Katarina and Bart came across happy hour in the Bourbon Smokehouse bar. This was busy and had a lively atmosphere with some good music. We sat at the bar and enjoyed the rest of the evening.
For the second evening we had a group dinner in ‘La Cerveceria’ which was a microbrewery as well as a restaurant. This was also a cabin style building but rather than having beer, I was tempted again by another Saurus Malbec 🙂 I had this with hot and steaming Patagonian stew which tasted delicious.
Prices for meals in El Chalten are not cheap as there isn’t too much local produce so everything needs to be transported in. For example, the Patagonian stew was $28 US (around £22). You can usually pay in either USD or pesos and many places will take a card.
No group meal was planned for the final night in El Chalten as this was our big hiking day and people tend to arrive back at different times and with different levels of appetite! On this evening a sub-group of us celebrated with happy hour beers in ‘La Birre del Rancho’ a bar and restaurant next to the Rancho Grande hostel. This was one of the first places we came to following the day of tough trekking!
Accommodation
We spent 3 nights in the Hosteria El Paraiso, a 3 star hotel in a good location within El Chalten. This was a simple budget style hotel with small rooms however they were clean, the shower was decent and the staff were friendly. A breakfast of toast, jams, fruit, cakes, cheese and ham was supplied. Little packs of Dulce de Leche were also available… this is another (very sweet) South American staple which I would best describe as ‘runny fudge’.
The next post features the monumental Laguna de los Tres hike!
frombluetogreen.com 