Chaltén and Calafate

Heyo.

So after our four days of waiting at the estancia to leave, we finally headed out at 5:45 in the morning to catch a bus leaving around 8 in Cochrane, headed to Villa O´Higgins. After staying overnight in the town in a hospedaje, we started on one of our more intense travel days of the trip, beginning with a bus at 8. We arrived at a dock at 8.30, and hopped on a boat going across Lago San Martin with some beautiful sunrise pictures (wish I could post pictures, but it´ll probably be a while until I´ll be able to get going on that again). We arrived about noon, checked out of Chile at a little carabiñero office, and crossed the border on foot on a 15ish mile hike that took us until about 6. Fortunately, we arrived just in time to check into Argentina and catch 7 pm ferry across the smaller and very beautiful Lago del Desierto, with a huge glacier on our right and Mount Fitz Roy shrouded in clouds as we headed South. After taking a bus, we finally arrived in El Chaltén, a small town of 2000ish people at the foot of the Fitz Roy Range. Ended up staying in probably the crappiest hostel in town at the recommendation of two French girls that we had talked to on the way there, but we went out for our first decent meal in a long time that wasn´t carb (bread, pureéd potatoes, etc) + meat (sheep). Also, Mack and Justin have been sick for quite a while now, originating a little before we left from the estancia -- not sure how I dodged that bullet.

The following day, we did a quick day hike to see Mount Fitz Roy in the afternoon after spending the morning looking for a better place to sleep (found an awesome hostel about 2 blocks down the road). We spent a bit of time later that day debating how much longer to stay in the town, since we hadn´t yet seen Fitz Roy in all it´s glory (google image search it if you haven´t seen the mountain, it´s just incredible). Long story short, we decided to stay the next day which ended up being a rest day because of rain, and then got up ass-early (i.e. 3.45) the following day to do a 12k hike to get a nice panoramic view of Fitz Roy and surrounding mountains, including Cerro Torre. We had banked on the fact that the weather report had indicated good weather, and I think we got incredibly lucky because we got some ridiculous views of the mountain range (Mack may have some pictures up) just at sunrise and for about an hour afterwards. Unfortunately, we didn´t bring enough clothing and were all relatively cold, especially Mack, so we headed down after just an incredible view. Defintely a once in a lifetime experience, and incredibly lucky.

After the hike, we had some leftover rice and lentils at the hostel and left on a bus for El Calafate, which is SSE of Chaltén on our way to Torres del Paine. We decided to spend a day here, i.e. today, to go see the Perito Morreno glacier, which is essentially the only reason why this town exists. Way more touristy than Chaltén, and much more expensive. Unfortunately, we woke up early again this morning (we´re pretty tired at this point) and got to the glacier before sunrise to find that it was cloudy and rainy. Oh well. However, we did escape the $25 entrance fee by getting there early, which was awesome. We´re also hitting up an all you can eat place for dinner tonight, which is going to be awesome. On to Puerto Natales tomorrow, last stop before Torres. Until next time!

Check out Mack´s pictures.