Tuesday January 1st 2019
First day of the year and most of the shops are closed. It’s windy and also it rains sometimes. It’s not the best day to go to Laguna Esmeralda. I read the trail get really muddy when it rains. So also today I change my plans. I walk around the city, near the bay, along the coast.
There is a military base where there is a monument for the people died one year ago in the submarine disappeared in the ocean. In the afternoon they take me to the airport. The flight will take me to El Calafate. From El Calafate I will reach El Chalten (more or less 2 hours by car), where there will be the best part of my trip in Patagonia.
Wednesday January 2nd 2019
The first real hiking of the trip. From El Chalten to Laguna Torre (a small glaciar lake in front of Cerro Torre). For this trekking we are a lot, and our guide is Natalia. The walk is nice, not too hard, with beautiful landscape. We are lucky, it’s sunny and no wind. A perfect day.
The view at Laguna Torre is stunning, I could stay here for hours. After lunch we go back to the town. I suggest everybody to go there, you will enjoy it. When we are back it’s still early, so I go to Mirador de los Condores y Aguilas, a short walk from the town, with nice views over the town, Cerro Solo, Cerro Torre, Fitz Roy and Lake Argentino. In the evening it’s pretty windy and cold, so I decide not to go around and relax for the next day.
Thursday January 3rd 2019
Another beautiful sunny day. The whole night was windy, but now it’s gone, we are lucky once again. Today we start from Hotel Pilar (we reach it by bus, it’s some kilometres from El Chalten). From here we will reach Laguna de los Tres, in front of Fitz Roy. Today as guides we have Natalia and Juan. From El Chalten to Laguna de los Tres it’s more or less 10-11km, the first part is pretty flat, without any difficult. The last kilometer is the hardest one because you have to go up 400 metres.
But your effort will be repaid by the landscape. It’s wonderful. And from here just 4 other guys come with me to the small hill on the left (just 10 minutes walking) from where you can see Laguna Sucia. It’s wonderful, you can see the 2 lakes together, the mountains, the glacier, the waterfall. Wooow. We go back to the town by a different way, stopping at laguna Capri. Also from here there is a nice view on Fitz Roy. When we are back to the town, I stop at the hotel for a break. The hotel as a nice swimming pool, so I relax there.
Friday January 4th 2019
Last day in El Chalten. And last trekking. Today it’s a short one: Pliegue Tumbado (more or less 16km total). For today the guide is Marcelo (Juan’s father). The hike is pretty easy, mainly in the woods, so even if outside is windy, it’s not a problem to walk. Also today is sunny, maybe the best weather we got in these days.
We stop at Mirador Pliegue Tumbado without going up till the top. The view is very nice also from here. It’s windy, so we take some pics and a break, before going down to the wood to get less wind. Near the wood we stop to eat and drink something, then we go back to El Chalten. Here we meet again Juan, he came just to say bye. Very nice. Thank you, Juan! In the afternoon they come to our hotel to take us to El Calafate.
Saturday January 5th 2019
We spend the whole day at Perito Moreno. As we arrive there, we walk on the walkway in fron of the glacier. It’s fantastic. It’s cloudy with some sun. The colours are fantastic. When we finish here, we go back to the bus and then to the boat. To get on the glacier, we climb up the hill near the glacier (pretty long).
We get our crampons, helmet and we are ready for the hike (Big Ice Trekking). They split us in groups of 10 people, each one with 2 guides. So we walk on the glacier, near the crevasses. It’s really an incredible experience, and the blue of the ice is wonderful. In the evening we are back to El Calafate. The last 4 days were really great (Cerro Torre, Fitz Roy, Pliegue Tumbado and Perito Moreno).
You can read the first part of my trip to Patagonia here and the last part here.
