We got the bus to El Chalten at 0800 and arrived around 1100. With the beautiful day ahead of us, we decided to take it easy and set up camp in town at El Refugio. We were the only tent in a field of yellow flowers with the river just on the other side of the old wooden fence (which ended up being a life saver because of the hurricane force winds which can be common in patagonia). We strolled around the small picture perfect mtn town consisting of small restaurants and mountaineering stores. The mtns surrounding the town are absolutely massive and breathtaking. They are very steep mtns and once we got there we could see why you have to have a guide to do many of the hikes... pictures to follow. The two famous mtns in the region are Cerro Torre and Fitz Roy. They are the logo mtns for the brand Patagonia, rock climbers paradise...
Nov. 5th
We got up the next day and packed our bags, started off hiking to the based of Cerro Torre. The weather was overcast so we could not see most of the mtn when we reached camp. We had some great camping food of pasta canned tuna and cheese; thanks to Blake's great campstove skills:) He is very confident in his campchef skills. He was very excited to cook that can of green peas i made him carry around!
Nov. 6th
We hiked to campground clsoe to the base of Fitz Roy, but it was raining. We set up camp and got in the tent to stay dry and warm. We cooked an early dinner when we realized, yes, it was SNOWING!! Blake let me sleep in his sleeping bag because he was tired of listening to me complain about being cold. To defend myself, I had on every bit of clothing i brought and my puffy coat and was still cold!! My sleeping bag has lost its worth. The ground was covered with pure white and the tops of the trees which were providing us coverage were getting heavy with snow. It continued to snow all night and the man camping next to us who did not put his tent under the canopy of trees got up around 2am and packed up camp and headed out.
Blake did say before we went to sleep "You know what follows snow storms...sunshine!"
Nov 7th
He was right!! the next day was beeeeautiful! Everything surrounding us was white with blue skies; perfect day to hike to fitz roy. The hike that day was the best. The size of these rock faces I am unable to describe, but I can say I have never had a feeling like that before. We stayed at the top both mesmerized by this mtn.
When we got back to camp, we decided to do another 2hr hike to the glacier on teh back side of Fitz Roy. We hiked over some pretty large boulders and did a great job of not falling tghrough the cracks.
That night dinner was so aweful I could not eat it.
Nov. 8th
We hiked back to town and set up camp, ate some empanadas, and hiked to the waterfall. My feet by this time were blistered up pretty good so it was a SLOW hike back. We ate dinner in town at Borra Vino where I had trout and grilled veggies and blake had (you guessed it) steak...delicious. We also had helado for dessert, their ice cream is very similar to Italian Gelato, flavored Dulce de Leche. Dulce de Leche is sugar cooked down basically.
Nov 9th
With my feet blistered to no end, we did some foot care and stared another 6 hour hike to a mtn I cannot remember the name of but the views were spectacular of Cerro Torre and Fitz Roy as well as El Chalten and the huge Lake which i cannot remember the name of either.
Nov 10th
BLAKE'S BIRTHDAY!! we packed up camp and caught our bus aat 0715...early yes. When we got back to America del Sur (our hostel we had stayed in in El Calafate) we were greated with fun smiles and tons of happy birthdays for blake. After a much needed shower, I headed to town to get gifts and the best birthday cake ever...chocolat mousse and dulce de leche with strawberries on top. The cake was gorgeous and I hid it in the employee refrigerator. When Pato got to work he told that there was "a party tonight!" so we planned to go to dinner early and head out with the guys and girls from the hostel to a concert in town. At dinner Giedo had called ahead and told them it was Blakes birthday so we were greated with champagne! We had the best lamb in the world and then they brought him dessert with a small roman candle in it! it was great! We ended up having the cake I had bought with all the guys at the hostel when we got back and everybody sang happy birthday! or should i say Feliz Cumpleanos!
Nov 11th
Feeling tired and headachey, Pato had us over to his house so we could relax and nap because were changing rooms again for our last night in Argentina. Pato went to dinner with us at the same restaurant we had been for Blakes birthday because we wanted more lamb...
Nov. 12th
After saying goodbye to all the guys at the hostel twice (we had a false alarm thinking one of the shuttles was ours) we started our travel day which went like this;
1330 picked up at hostel to go to airport
3hr flight landing in BA at 1830
stood in lines for almost 4 hours with all the different security checks ; but we did get to stand in line and have a great conversation with the drummer for paul mccartney who had just played in BA for two nights. He also has played with sting and Eric Clapton...
2250 10hr flight to houston
1030 on the 13th to jackson
drive home....
tired.
I would like to say that I had an amazing trip and will hopefully go back to Argentina one day. Blake was a wonderful travel partner, and I can't wait for our next adventure!
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