El Calafate - El Chaltén

When we traveled from Perito Moreno to El Calafate, we made a stop in El Chaltén by bus. For a brief moment, we thought we made a mistake because we didn't get off in El Chaltén. However, my mom had to catch a flight to Buenos Aires on Monday, November 5th, so we were unsure if there would be a bus to El Calafate on time. But when we arrived in El Calafate, we found out that there are several buses to El Chaltén and back every day. In the afternoon, we planned our entire week so that we could do as much as possible.

On the first day, we went to Parque Nacional de los Glaciares to see the Perito Moreno Glacier. We had a magnificent view of the glacier. We could also observe pieces breaking off at the front and falling into the water. There were constant cracks inside the glacier as well. But the best part was the short hike on the glacier. We passed by a tunnel that formed last year, under which about 50 people could stand, but now only two people can fit. We walked past crevices in the glacier and looked into a 7-meter-deep hole filled with water. Finally, we had a whisky on (glacier) ice.

However, you cannot walk to the middle of the glacier because it is constantly moving. It moves/grows up to 2 meters forward every 500 days.

The next day, we rented a car and drove to El Chaltén. We could have taken the bus as well, but this way we could make as many stops as we wanted. On the way there, we had a marvelous view of glaciers, mountains, lakes, and Fitz Roy. Fitz Roy is a 3,406-meter-high granite mountain in the Argentina-Chilean Andes and is the flagship of El Chaltén. In the evening, we had a delicious and extraordinary dinner recommended by my grandma's cousin.

The following day, we did a 20 km hike to Tres Lagos. It was extremely windy and unfortunately very rainy, but still very beautiful. In the evening, we were quite exhausted, so we only returned to El Calafate the next day. On the way back, we picked up two hitchhiking French people from Strasbourg who were traveling through South America. Shortly before we had to return the car, we drove along the beautiful Laguna Nimez. There we saw flamingos in turquoise water. After returning the car, we just wanted a small meal, so we ordered "Tablas" to share. However, we didn't know that the food was enough for 6 people, so we couldn't finish it and were full for the rest of the day. In the late afternoon, we packed our backpacks and went to a bar in the evening for the farewell.

The next morning, we were picked up by a safari car at around 11:00 a.m., which took us to "Balcones" at the Estancia 25 de Mayo. From there, we had a beautiful view of the lake. Afterwards, we walked to caves where wall paintings were discovered and where we had lunch. The tour was incredibly informative and finally answered some questions. For example, why all fields are fenced off from the road. In the past, the entire land was divided among 400 families, making everything private property and separated from each other. We also made fun of the incredibly wide street in El Calafate, a really small town, until we were told that the street used to be the old airport.