El Chalten - between sun and rain

Our next destination was about 1000km further south. There are no notable stops on the way as there are only a handful of places. So we booked a bus that would take us directly to El Chalten. The journey was scheduled for 22 hours, and it took us 23 hours. We packed a big lunch and off we went. We started at 8.30 am sharp in El Bolson. Fortunately, the bus was not full, so we each had our own row. We spent the journey looking out of the window. In the evening, the bus company even provided us with a small meal. Then we tried to sleep, which turned out to be a bit difficult later on. The last part of the road was not paved, so the ride over the gravel road was bumpy. I decided to pass the time by playing games on my phone. Once we got back on a normal road, I was finally able to sleep.

When we arrived in El Chalten, I was naturally tired. We headed to our hostel, ordered a coffee, and took the day easy. In the afternoon, we went to a nearby waterfall to stay awake. After dinner, we went to bed early.

El Chalten is a small town where you can only really go hiking. But it's really good for that. We found out what options there were. On the first day, we set out for Laguna Torre, which is 9km away. The lake is fed by two glaciers, Glacier Torre and Glacier Grande. The path leads through the beautiful nature along the river. The weather above the town was good, but there were dark clouds over the glacier, and the wind was strong. As we came over the last hill to the lake, we were almost blown away. The wind was so strong that it splashed water up and drenched us twice. It splashed up from the icebergs in the water. Beautiful to see.

On the next day, we wanted to go to a viewpoint from which you can see the actual landmark of the city, Mount Fitz Roy. The sun was shining over the town again, but we could already see the dark clouds over the Andes. So we set off. At the entrance, a park ranger advised us not to climb the last section, as the wind was very strong. So we went to the campsite below the viewpoint. It was raining here, and the wind was quite strong. When we saw the path up to the mountain, we knew why it was not recommended to go up there today. It was relatively steep, going through the scree. Since we didn't have rain pants either, we decided against the ascent, even though the view from up there must be amazing. Instead, we passed two lakes on the way back. In total, it was about 23km.

On the last morning, when we went to the bus station, Fitz Roy showed itself again and bid us farewell in bright sunshine. It was a few beautiful days.