I went to a natural reserve in El Calafate the day before I left. It is a birds paradise and sometimes there are flamingos.
Plenty of birds around!It's beautiful with the mountains in the background.The way is marked where you are allowed to walk and every 100 meters there are signs to remind you to stay on that path. Therefore the nature looks really untouched and there is actually a huge amount of birds.Also flamingos!One more off the bucket list 👍Side note here: I really miss 4 layered toilet paper. This here was so thin you could actually see my fingers through it...I hitch hiked the next day to El Chaltén. It was mediocre, didn't have so much luck and needed 3 hours for 90km but then someone stopped and took me the whole rest of 130km in one drive to El Chaltén which was super convenient.I saw these Emus on the way!The weather in El Chaltén is very unpredictable, no one saw this snow coming. Roman told me there are abandoned tents on the camping grounds of travelers, who left them there for others and I thought originally if I wanted to sleep there.. but in the snow without proper camping gear? No thanks, I went to some hostel. The town is super small and it has been the first time that I didn't find a couch surfing host. The next day was lovely, just a bit cold.I wore leggings, thin trousers a long sleeve t-shirt, pullover, the jacket a hat and, of course, only the sport sneakers again.This is still from the town.The view stayed fantastic, the hike was super easy. It was 10km one way, so 20 overall.Beautiful lakes on the road.There was even sand, so you could call this beach even tho the temperature didn't give a beach feeling.This is the first sign that made me wonder if my sport sneakers were appropriate for the hike. I was pretty confident since it wasn't a big deal on the glacier in El Calafate.Continued my hike to the "Lago de los tres" (the lake of the three).For those wondering: These three mountains are meant with the name.It got more snowy but so far still no problem for the sneakers...So the first 9 of 10km were easy, some stairs to climb, a bit uphill but a relaxed walk mostly. The last kilometer was brutal. Really. Super steep uphill, rubble on the hill, very strong winds and it got colder and colder with each meter.Aaaaand this is the time I realized my shoes are definitely not appropriate but it was kinda too late to turn around 🤷🏼♂️ (you already see the three in the background)I made it! The lake you see in the background was currently frozen. I was somehow expecting liquid water here...You see the clouds around the biggest one and might wonder why I don't have a picture without clouds? That is because this rock constantly formed his own clouds, you could watch clouds constantly rising up, swirling around him and eventually leaving. I was up there until I couldn't handle the freezing winds anymore and never got a clear shot. In the end of this post is a video which shows it a bit.But there was another lake that didn't freeze. Many hikers up there actually missed this one because it is a bit hidden and no one up there felt very comfortable in terms of wind or temperature..The glowing you see on the mountain on the left is not bad lighting or some after effects, it's snow that is blowing over the mountain and straight in your face, no matter where you turn your face to.After (or before?) this last intense kilometer to the top was a shed to eat and relax. This cute bird joined our meal and fed on breadcrumbs people left.Bye bye you nasty mountains..It's been great tho!Took me a while to see this little guy, green in green was not easy to spot.Almost made it back to town (don't look to close on the legs, the wind does strange things with the trousers).Beautiful view over the small, cute (and very touristic) town.I went for a mini hike the next days since my feet were sore.Nevertheless also great views.On day 4 (today) I hitch hiked back to El Calafate and got suuuuper lucky! The FIRST car that I showed my thumb to stopped. They were two tourists from Switzerland who took me 3/4th of the route and stopped for all small things on the road.Like this armadillo who just crossed the road 🤩🤩 isn't he cute?Or these animals which look like Patagonian foxes.Or this traffic signs that probably warns of palm trees shooting laser beams.And as they dropped me off, I only waited 5 minutes to get the second ride which would bring me right into El Calafate. My faith in hitchhiking is restored!I had a huge appetite for crisps and this package was the smallest the supermarket had. I guess I'm eating 1/2kg of crisps now? My plane to Tucumán goes tomorrow, from there I'll go the next day by bus to Jujuy again where I don't do much. Literally just relaxing, enjoying good company and cheap food & drinks, maybe some nightlife. Even tho the last weeks in Bariloche, Puerto Madryn, El Chaltén and El Calafate have been great, I feel exhausted. It's been plenty of impressions and people, much traveling and more plans - I need to catch a break and will do so in Jujuy. So don't expect any great news from me within the next 7 days, I'm on holiday from the holiday 😂Afterwards I'll see Iguazú which is a group of waterfalls that are unmatched in the world. If you wanna spoiler yourself, Google them (I couldn't avoid all spoilers either, even tho I tried), it's going to be HUGE. So far so good, peace out,LaurinOh and like always, pictures in the picture section and videos here with this link: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=1VJm_AeSon_hVv-wB3NUrK7dc5Ne1V83P (Check it out of you want to see more of the mountains, it's impressive!)
