We were a Mexican, an American, a German, an Austrian and an
Italian (me!), all ready for departure at 5 am of an April day, from Buenos
Aires’ Jorge Newbery airport. I still remember how excited I was that night, before heading to the airport for our early flight! I literally couldn't go to bed: making my trolley fucsia took me more than usual, for the exciteness to go to the end of the world.
Already approaching land from our flight to El Calafate, we all felt like landing in another world. The atmosphere was absolutely electrifying, the view on the Patagonian steppe was just indescribable. We didn’t even feel the lenght of the 4-hour ride from the airport to the tiny town of El Chaltén, since the six of us (my friends, my trolley fucsia and I) were too excited, almost crying of the emotion at the view of the cold desert incontamined, endless lands of unique bushes and deep blu sky.
Already approaching land from our flight to El Calafate, we all felt like landing in another world. The atmosphere was absolutely electrifying, the view on the Patagonian steppe was just indescribable. We didn’t even feel the lenght of the 4-hour ride from the airport to the tiny town of El Chaltén, since the six of us (my friends, my trolley fucsia and I) were too excited, almost crying of the emotion at the view of the cold desert incontamined, endless lands of unique bushes and deep blu sky.
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| Almost arrived at El Chaltén |
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| La churma - Bienvenidos a El Chaltén, capital nacional de trekking |
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| Arrival in big style with my Trolley Fucsia ;) |
We spent 1 day and a half in El Chaltén. The afternoon we got there, we took advantage of the beautiful sun and went for a small hike in the hills. After the walk, which gave us gorgeous views, we were really doubtful that we would have made it the day after at our long hike towards Mount Fitz Roy, since during this little walk
we almost got attacked by a herd of cows, and it took us ages to do like a couple of km!!
At night, we prepared our sandwiches and got ready for the long trekking to Mount Fitz Roy. Set the alarm very early, for two reasons:
- You will see the breathtaking sunrise on the Mount Fitz Roy, which becomes beautifully pinkish (fucsia, I would say);
- If you have the night bus El Chaltén-->El Calafate, at around 6-7 pm, you have to make sure to be back in town on time to pick up your stuff at the hostel/hotel and go to the bus station! We made it just on time!
At night, we prepared our sandwiches and got ready for the long trekking to Mount Fitz Roy. Set the alarm very early, for two reasons:
- You will see the breathtaking sunrise on the Mount Fitz Roy, which becomes beautifully pinkish (fucsia, I would say);
- If you have the night bus El Chaltén-->El Calafate, at around 6-7 pm, you have to make sure to be back in town on time to pick up your stuff at the hostel/hotel and go to the bus station! We made it just on time!
The hike: with a gorgeous
sunny day and the colours of autumn we took a long walk to the blue/green lake
“Lago de los Tres” in front of the Fitz Roy and then returned back at the end
of the day.
The last couple of hours before getting to the lake, there was a
steep icy (it is snowy and icy in autumn and winter only) way up, which can
give a hard time especially if you are not used to snow and ice. Our Mexican
friend, ideed, had to stop and wait for us down the way, and slided that badly
that he dropped and lost all his sandwiches!! But if you can make it to the
top, you won’t regret it! It is just incredible. Be careful while walking to
the lake with snow because you can easily slip down the hill, it sadly happened
to me (of course, who else could do it!).
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| On the way to Lago de los Tres |
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| Mount Fitz Roy |
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| El Lago de los Tres |
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| Me slipping |
We arrived in Calafate after the bus ride from El Chaltén.
Dinner, submarinos (typical of Argentine: it is hot milk and a chocolate bar
to melt in the milk) corrected with baileys, and bed. The day after was fully
dedicated to the Perito Moreno, a glaciar stretching 30km x 5km in the Lago
Argentino and back to the mountains. The glacier is alive, in the sense that
the mountains behind constantly create new ice which moves all the rest of the
glacier in a misterious and vivid sound or crashing and roaring. I let the
photos speak!
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| Sunrise in El Calafate |
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| Sunset |
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| Ice crashing |
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| Boat ride |
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Unluckily, we weren’t able to book the walk ON TOP OF the
glaciar. There are half day or full day expeditions which you need to book at
least the day before. We arrived too late at El Calafate and the agencies were
already closed, so no hike on the ice for us!! If you go, I suggest that you book it in advance.
Fin del mundo: Ushuaia and Tierra del fuego
When you get to Ushuaia (in the Argentine region Tierra del
fuego) you definitively have the impression to be at the end of the world. This
is indeed the most austral city in the world, “Ushuaia, fin del mundo,
principio de todo”.
In the two days spent there, where we manage to even make the water system of our house explode, we had a navigation in the
Beagle Canal water which included the famous lighthouse “Les
Eclaireurs”, the Isla de los lobos (marine lions colony), the Isla de los
pajaros and a little hike in isla Bridges. The view from the boat, to the
Ushuaia bay and the end of the Cordillera de los Andes was just breathless.
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| Ushuaia and the Cordillera de los Andes from the boat |
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| Isla de los lobos |
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| Isla de los pajaros |
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| El faro del fin del mundo |
We spent the morning riding the train Tren del fin del mundo, which is a touristic reconstruction of the historic train, in the last 7 km trail of the original route. -> Epic fail !!! Very touristic, we were the only visitors under 60 and the train was running at a pace of 2 km/h….The cherry on top was the hot air conditioning which made us feel like in an oven. The landscape is amazing but we would have rather done it by foot!! Our 175 pesos worst spent of the trip!
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| El tren del fin del mundo |
Later, we visited the beautiful national park and made
interesting encounters…
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| National park of Tierra del Fuego |
- TRAVEL TIPS -
TRANSPORT: Given the short vacation time we had (6 days), the
only reasonable solution was to move by PLANE. Despite you could think Latin
American is generally a cheap area of the world, this is not true at all for
airplanes. In Argentina in particular there is a sort of monopoly for that
company, and moreover the government applies supplementary taxes for all
foreigners travelling by plane in the country. We were able to “fight” the high
price because we were technically Argentine residents (we had the resident visa
as exchange students) and because we bought the tickets by cash (I cannot give
further explanations here!!!!).
If you have more time, you can reach southern Patagonia by
BUS. The bus network is safe and really well developed in all Argentina as the
only alternative to the flights. You can find from basic cheaper seats to the
most comfortable ones with even food included (but be prepared: trips can be of
some 20 hours or more!).
PERIOD: I have been there end of April, i.e.
autumn.
Pros: you still have beautiful sunny days and the autumn
red/yellow/brownish colours add even more beauty to the landscapes.
Cons: you won’t see barely any penguins in Ushuaia, since
the penguin period would be just over (from mid-october to beginning of April).
Therefore you would miss (as I did!!) the navigation to the Penguinera “Isla
Martillo” in the End of the world waters, where you can experience walking
among penguins.
HOUSING: There are plenty of hostels, but the price is
averagely a little bit more expensive compared to the rest of Argentina, being
Patagonia a quite touristic stop. Since we were 5, we managed pretty much
always to have little mountain-style cottage for all of us instead of a hostel room, for the
same price.
Enjoy your trip !!!
Enjoy your trip !!!
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