El Chaltén is the hikers paradise. It is the place where hikers meet and it has the iconic hike of Lagoon de Los Tres. Laguna de los Tres offers breathtaking, close-up views of Mount Fitz Roy and its glacier. The 20 km round trip takes 7–9 hours. Laguna de los Tres, “Lake of the Three”, is not about three lakes, It refers to the three prominent peaks towering above the lake, which are Mount Fitz Roy, Poincenot, and Saint-Exupéry, located in Los Glaciares National Park near El Chalten, Argentina. Fitz Roy captained the HMS Beagle Charles Darwin was on almost two hundred years ago. He explored the El Chaltén region with Charles Darwin in 1834.
We are not among the rock climbers who scale the Granite Wall of Mount Fitz Roy. Chouinard and team did that back in 1968 (Pg 45 to 52 of Dirtbag Billionaire) before he founded the Patagonia company. The Patagonia logo is based on none other than Mount Fitz Roy.
El Chaltén is a convenient 3 hours bus ride from El Calafate. El Chaltén has a different vibe and is like a village where visitors have just one thing in mind – outdoor exploration/hiking. It takes less than 30 minutes to stroll from one end to another. San Martín is the main avenue, not one of, in El Chaltén. Strolling in the town, we can see the different faces of Mount Fitz Roy from afar. The town is filled with hostels/hotels/airbnb, coffee shops, gift shops, grocery stores and choices of restaurants. Our Airbnb, a comfortable unit next to the host family, is in a perfect location.
El Chaltén’s itinerary is very simple – hiking followed by day(s) of rest.
A day after the arrival, we did the primary waterfall hike in El Chaltén, Chorrillo del Salto (Waterfall) to test our hiking gear. It is a relatively short forest trail, located at the north end of San Martin Avenue. It offers a view of, 20-meter high waterfall at the end. On the day, it was windy and dusty, creating a slightly unexpected challenge than an easy and flat trail that it is known for. After the hike, we went for an early dinner at a Parrillo restaurant, which displayed pictures of communist leaders Fidel Castro, Ernesto “Che” Guevara. “Che”, an Argentinian, has been a hero. “Las Malvinas son argentinas” is another discovery how some Argentinians still believe Las Malvinas (i.e. the Falkland islands) belong to Argentina.
Argentina Correo (Post Office) is undergoing changes so much that the Post Office looks terribly run down and it stays closed during opening hours. There are one or two gift shops selling stamps. To mail a postcard, it costs more than $10 USD, equivalent to 15000 Argentina peso, in 5 different stamps. I mailed two postcards. We then had lunch at the restaurant next to our Airbnb served with Parrillo lamb, salad, we enjoyed and had enough left over for dinner. Our star gazing plan faltered after knowing that the time for it would be after midnight.
Next: The iconic hike Laguna de los Tres, Nov. 23
oliviatamccue 
Leave a comment