el chalten: treksters paradise.

Three hours bus ride northwest of El Calafate lies Argentina's trekking capital, El Chalten, gateway to the northern half of Parque Nacional Los Glaciares (Calafate to the southern sector). Thrown together in 1985 to claim the land before Chile could, it's Argentina's youngest town, made up of a few gravel roads, itty homes and shops. Very frontier. Stayed at a woodsy hostel and had the opportunity to make friends with a sassy Aussie couple, a mother-daughter combo from Belgium, and a "puma hunter"- the photographer who spent his days in search of puma territory, hoping to score a few frames. And let's not forget Cecilia (my mother meets Rosa the Marmalade Lady from El Galpon)- presh. Each and every morning I'd roll out of bed bright n' early and approach Cecilia with "Adonde debo ir hoy mi amor?" (Where should I go today my love?). The weather brought much uncertainty, kept all of us on our toes...the big question of the day being which trail to take and what peak or range might or might not be visible. Stressful, I know.

Laguna Capri

En route to Laguna Torre. Cragged valleys with milky aqua rivers flowing below, tiered waterfalls, blankets of verde, snowdusted Andes towering from every angle. The hike started out crisp and semi-clouded...

...and by the time I reached Laguna Torre, a storm was blowing in and the view of the Cerro Torre was fogged over- buuuust!!! I sat myself down at the edge of this lagoon with icebergs floating about, a glacier jetting down through mountains and into her waters...and about twenty minutes after I had sliced open my avo (w/my cherished bullhorned knife- as seen in photo) the snow started falling. Surreal. It was the perfect moment to break out the tunes and accompany this scene, this experience way up there in the Andes with a few songs by Sigur Ros...

Hiking towards Laguna de los Tres (the Fitz Roy range pictured above)

Due to intense winds and much fallen snow, unfortunately the last leg of the trail leading to Laguna de los Tres was closed. Upon my descent, I met a few trail friends- Marianela the ? from Buenos Aires, Yuval the officer from Israel, and Jerry the lawyer from Canada.

With much positive thinking and loads of high hoping for the weather to clear, my final day in Chalten was spent under an immaculate sky of blue. I opted for the trail leading to the Loma del Pliegue Tumbado, the only hike that offers the panoramic view de todo- both the Fitz Roy and the Torre.

After about an hour of knee deep, up hill snow sludging in my trustworthy asics, I arrived at the vista I had heard so much about, visibility and all (Cerro Torre, left & Fitz Roy, right). And as I was the only one up there, the entertaining-of-thyself with the camera was taken overboard, naturally...