Parque Nacional Los Glaciares

So I’m just going to come out & say it. El Chalten in Argentina is my favorite place I’ve visited on this trip. Yes, that just happened. It’s this perfect little quaint charming town of 1,000 situated inside the Northern end of the same Parque Nacional Los Glaciares that El Calafate borders from the South. In its backyard are these unbelievable mountains dominated by Mount Fitz Roy & Cerro Torre. The hiking trails start right from this darling town. You just throw on your daypack & walk out the door. You don’t have to give a thought to transport. It’s so easy. Well not the treks but the accessibility. It’s obvious I am a massive fan of Torres del Paine. But Torres del Paine is not nearly as accessible as El Chalten. The closest town to Torres del Paine is Puerto Natales, 2hrs away. Unless you’re tent camping in the park, nearby lodging is quite expensive & it’s still a 45-75 min transport to/from the trails (or ferries leading to the trails). I would also argue the treks, mountains & views in El Chalten are just as challenging, rewarding & beautiful as those in Torres del Paine. That’s why it’s number 1.

Merely 30 minutes into the 4hr drive from El Calafate, the bus comes around a bend & perfectly highlighted by the sunrise 75 miles away is Fitz Roy sparkling far above everything else in sight. Fitz Roy getting increasingly large as we neared town only made the rest of the ride go pretty quickly as did passing an estancia previously owned by Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid where they chilled for a few years prior to heading to Bolivia (where they supposedly weren’t killed – I never before knew there was controversy here – now I don’t have to cry anymore at the end of that movie).

The town itself is only 31 years old & still small but I’m told is unsurprisingly expanding. It already has some wonderful tiny local restaurants, cervecerias, supermercados & 1 lovely spa I frequented & made friends w the owners. But the town is solely focused on the trekkers. The quarter-full bus arriving makes its required first stop at the national park’s visitors center for a debrief, trail maps & open Q&A session. They know why you’re visiting & want to make it as easy as possible & also make clear they care about preserving the park. But unlike El Calafate, which is much bigger & not shy about sticking it to you, there’s no fee in El Chalten for the SAME national park (the one where I paid $35 a day to visit on top of the expensive glacier tours). In fact, El Chalten is in a fight with the Argentine Parks system to keep it no-fee as the town itself is within the park’s borders.
After a 15min walk from the bus station to my hotel, where I had already booked for 3 nights, I immediately doubled my stay before I even ventured on a single hike. I just had a feeling about the place. And because I’m so enamored, there’s going to be a few blog posts – based on my 3 favorite treks. The first was a hike to a vantage point w a lovely panoramic view of the area. Then after seeing that view, I of course, had to get up close & personal to Mount Fitz Roy together with Mount Poincenot, Mount Torre & the chain of mountains that surround them.

The view arriving to town. Was there ever a doubt I’d get stuck here?

The tiny little town backed by the big ol’ mountains

The afternoon I arrived, I did a little 2-hr hike to get me real excited for the next day

My fave part of every (clear) day (& I was blessed w a lot) was the 5 mins just as the sun is about to peek over the hills at 8:30am (right before winter, days start late). Fitz Roy is this crazy cool glittering sparkling pink. For 5 mins only. I’d purposely get up early & start hiking w my headlamp while dark so I could make it to a place (maybe not quite the best spot but I had 8-10hrs of hiking each day) so I could enjoy it. Since I visited in the offseason, I usually had trails to myself that early. But everyday there was an exception & while this amazing magical event was happening, I was firmly planted in one place to enjoy it, but a group of hikers would trod past me barely looking up from the trail. I sometimes wanted to shake them & yell that life isn’t about the destination people, it’s about the journey & you’re missing the best 5 mins of every day!!! But I’d keep my mouth shut & silently enjoy it while they beat me to the top to enjoy a lovely view – but one not quite as beautiful as the one they missed.

5 mins later. The sun is fully up. It’s still spectacular but it’s not glittering sparkling magical pink

There she is. I couldn’t see her for awhile. Nice to know where I’m headed.

How happy do I look? I’m even genuinely smiling for a selfie after an all uphill 4hr hike.

There’s nothing better after a long day of hiking than digging into a rich, delicious, warming bowl of stew – or “locro” – served in a red clay earthenware bowl with white beans, sweet potatoes, hominy, carrots, beef, pancetta, onions, red peppers, garlic, paprika, cumin, etc. It reminded me so much of a French cassoulet & so I thought a lot about my bro, as we’ve enjoyed a few lovely cassoulets together in Seattle at the cafe. The locro & the most perfectly homemade empanada along w a couple of freshly brewed beers or a glass of an Argentine Malbec was the perfect end to amazing days. Did I write a post lately bitching about the food in SA? Bc that seems so preposterous right now. Perhaps Argentina will save me after all. I must say, I’ve been stomach-problem free for the last month… knock on wood.

Only a 6hr bus ride from Puerto Natales, Chile, 2 of which is spent at Chile & Argentina’s border crossings in the Andes, is El Calafate, Argentina. El Calafate is known for being the closest access point to the Southern end of Argentina’s Parque Nacional Los Glaciares. This park, hence the name, is jam-packed with glaciers & glaciers are prettty dope so I was super excited. There are 3 biggies on the Southern end of the park, Perito Moreno, Upsala & Spegazzini. Perito Moreno is the most famous as it’s the only glacier in the world that’s advancing & of course during this time of vast climate change, scientists have no idea why. Hehe. Nature. Because it’s advancing, it goes through a repetitive process very 4-10 years in which it collides with land, dams a branch of the lake causing water levels to rise significantly, water, as it does, forces its way through forming an ice bridge that then ruptures & comes crashing down. If you’re bored, you can google a video as it’s pretty cool. Upsala is Argentina’s largest glacier & like all other glaciers in the world, it’s retreating & rapidly so it makes perfect sense to the world’s scientists but that means when viewing it on a boat, we have to keep our distance which kinda sucks as far as getting close enough to see & document calvings. The 3rd glacier, which no one ever really talks about, is the Spegazzini that’s standing strong & stable & I happen to think it’s just stunning.
So by far the coolest thing about watching glaciers is watching large ice peaks shear off, crash to the water quite dramatically creating large waves & bobbing icebergs. If you hear it, you’ve already missed it as 3-5 seconds is the span of a glacier calving. I discovered the really big ones tend to give off a bit of a “thunder” maybe 1 second before it crashes to the water & if you’re still quite lucky, you can have your camera trained on the spot to capture it on video. I happened to catch one on video at Spegazzini by total happenstance which I think is how it must typically happen because I sat watching Perito Moreno for 5 hours – I understand that sounds incredibly boring perhaps to many but I could’ve spent much longer bc it’s just fascinating – & while I was lucky enough to see 5 glacier calvings including 2 pretty massive ones, the only one I was able to catch on video, even though my camera was always poised & ready, was a small inconsequential one that I still find super cool. So hopefully you enjoy those videos.
A couple comments about the town of El Calafate itself that is not coincidentally located as it’s geographically blessed by the glaciers. And boy does everyone in that town know it. It’s a pretty small town w population of 20k & very obviously has a lot of money. That’s bc they charge you an arm & a leg to take these glacier tours & then on top of that, they charge you to enter the national park every single day (I’ve been at my fair share of national park’s down here & it’s real unusual for a pass to NOT be good for 3-5 days in a row & typically you get to actually do something – hike, camp – but here it’s stand & watch). As a topper, on the boat to view Upsala & Spegazzini (the only way to view them), there are professional photographers trying to get the best (cheesiest, tourist pleasing) shots of people to sell them afterwards (I forcefully declined when offered & kept my distance). El Calafate is well aware they have a goldmine on their hands & does it’s best to extract its pound of flesh from you during your visit. So while the town, resplendent with nice restaurants, ice vodka bars that I’ve only otherwise seen in trash Vegas, gourmet chocolate, cheese & jam shops, lovely clothing stores, spas, etc, pretty closely resembles a Rocky Mountain ski town, its charm was lost on me & it wasn’t a place I wanted to linger for long. So I spent 3 days visiting the glaciers which really were stunning & then promptly left for another town that happened to take a starkly different approach… and one that I loved. Would I return to El Calafate? If in 4 years there was another massive rupture at Perito Moreno due & I was in the area & could be reasonably assured of timing so I’d get to witness it live (yeah right), I would probably swing by to check it out. Otherwise, I’m good.

Perito Moreno Glacier calving: https://youtu.be/bGArnwgRXvc

Spegazzini Glacier calving: https://youtu.be/aAOAI1vj270