03/04/2023 - Fitz Roy & El Chaltén / Argentina

Today we made our way to El Chaltén. The bus ride from El Calafate took 3 hours. During the journey, we experienced a dreamy sunrise and saw many Guanacos, a type of llama, grazing in the fields next to us. Just before arriving in the colorful town of El Chaltén, we could already see the snow-covered mountains ahead of us. We walked about 45 minutes through the entire town, passing by shops, cafes, and restaurants. At the end of the town, our hiking route began into the mountains. We had about 400 meters of elevation gain and 9 kilometers ahead of us. We started in sunshine and had great views of the autumn-colored valley. Along the way, we observed rabbits, busy Magellanic woodpeckers, a Carancho, and many small birds. We passed by Laguna Capri lake and had several viewpoints of Fitz Roy. Fitz Roy is a 3,406-meter-high granite mountain in Los Glaciares National Park. In the language of the indigenous Tehuelche Indians, Chaltén translates to 'the smoking one'. It got this name because it usually has a cloud hanging over it. Unfortunately, there were so many clouds today that we couldn't get a view of it from any of the many viewpoints. And then the cloud cover seemed to follow us, as it started to rain slowly. On the way back, we stopped at a café, had an espresso, and dried off a bit. The drying off didn't help much because we even had to put on our rain pants for the walk back to the bus terminal.