El Calafate Perito Moreno Glacier El Chalten

El Calafate Perito Moreno Glacier and El Chalten summarized. More pictures later because the network is weak here. 

Today I actually wanted to go to the Perito Moreno Glacier for mini-trekking, but unfortunately the early departure of my bus to El Chalten and the late return from the trekking did not allow it. So I just drove into the Glacier National Park and walked around on the Glacier Panorama Trail and looked at this giant. It is the third largest glacier in Argentina and one of the largest in South America. At the edge of the glacier, it is an impressive 70m above the water level of the equally fabulous blue Lago Argentino, into which the glacier calves. This fascinating glacier blue and the extreme noise of the bursting ice - it's crazy what nature can do. But when you look at the surrounding mountains and see the grinding marks on the rocks, you can only imagine how big the glaciers must have been. Finally, I also wanted to see such a gigantic icefall - it worked, even on video (unfortunately I can't upload it here). Well, then the wind picked up and it got quite cold, and it started raining, the first rain in Argentina, so I made my way back to the bus stop. Spent a good hour and a half chatting with a Mexican guy and then went back to the bus terminal, quickly grabbed the big backpack from the hostel, enjoyed 2 empanadas, and got on the next bus for a 3-hour ride to El Chalten. Even from a distance, you can see this mighty rock massif of Cerro Torre and Mt. Fitzroy above the barren plain (I won't call it Pampa because it's too hilly), it really stands out from the surrounding area, a bit like staged scenery, nature can sometimes be cheesy but very beautiful!

Now I'm sitting here in my cheap hostel (actually a garden shed with 4 beds and WiFi) with a nice Brazilian girl and I can't speak Portuguese and she can't speak English - we just look stupid at each other. That's life.

Let me summarize the 2 days in El Chalten here.

So the Brazilian girl left in the morning after a sleepless night, but then Natalie from Belgium and Nick from Kiel arrived at night. We had to fill Natalie with painkillers because she had a pinched nerve in her back. And I couldn't fall asleep in this bed, too short, worn out, too hot every damn fart the freezer, which replaces the fridge here, started and last but not least the toilet flush kept dripping all the time - a not to be underestimated psychological torture, I believe the combination was invented in Guantanamo. Anyway, at around 3 o'clock I finally fell asleep.

The next day was hiking day. In total, it was about 25 km over hill and dale to Mirrador de Maestri and back, equipped with 2 baguettes, a can of Quilmes, and about half a liter of water - which turned out to be a bit too little. The chosen route promised great views of Cerro Torre, but unfortunately the fine Mr. Mountain didn't bother to take off his cloud burqa, although he looks really great with his rugged rock protruding into the sky. At my personal peak of the route on the edge of Laguna Torre, I opened and emptied my can (of course, I packed the empty one again). On the way back, the rude awakening came, water ran out! Well, crawled into town and first knocked back half a liter at the first kiosk and got a smoke. Then cooked pasta (without salt, with lots of onions and garlic), then met Nick's French friends in the bar, beer, and went to bed.

Day 2.

Today I went one step further and took on the 30 km to Laguna de Los Tres, this time with 2 liters of water, a baguette, cookies, and the obligatory can, this time it was enough.

The first 2 kilometers were constantly uphill, about 350 vertical meters, then a few kilometers through forest and meadow up and down, and then on the last kilometer in a beaten scree slope to take another good 400m in elevation (I knew that beer 🍻 was waiting up there). Very nice all-round view of the blue Laguna and the Mt. Fitzroy massif - it could have been if this venerable no less beautiful pile of rocks would ever separate from its cloud veil. Opened the can, lit a cigarette, took some nice pictures and almost blew my phone away with the wind. On the way back, I saw a few strange woodpeckers and stumbled into the bungalow quite stoned, from walking that is. Great tour. But on the wrong day at the wrong mountain. Tomorrow I'll get up early, the bus comes at 7:30 am and then I'm off to Salta, 3500 km north... So let's go to the pub again!