Wherever You'll Go

Hiking in Argentinian Patagonia

Sometimes I worry that I’ve dreamed of a place so long, it won’t live up to my expectations. This was not the case with Patagonia. I’d wanted to go for years, and luckily this time my husband was able to travel with me. We’d spend three weeks starting in Buenos Aires, Argentina and ending in Santiago, Chile. I knew when we started this wouldn’t be nearly enough time, but nine days would at least give us a taste for all Argentina had to offer. And by taste, I mean, bring the wine and keep it coming!

We touched down in Buenos Aires, for a short overnight before hopping another flight to El Calafate and then a bus to El Chaltén. Our trip would follow a ‘V’ pattern due to the limited flight locations in the Patagonia region. Also because I wanted to spend less time on buses and we didn’t rent a car. After nine hours flying to Buenos Aires, we dropped our bags at the hotel, got a map and went to exchange money. This was our only goal while in BA, because I’d read that changing cash in El Chaltén was hit or miss.

We spent a beautifully warm day walking around eating empanadas, but we were eager to get south. We caught our flight early the next morning out of the domestic airport. It only took 15 minutes to get from our hotel to the gate – the small airport was easy
to check into, and has a cafe. Our three hour flight put us outside the town of El Calafate. We had pre-booked a shuttle to the quiet hiker’s paradise in El Chaltén. Once there, we finally checked into our hosteria where we’d stay for the next five days.

El Chaltén, Argentina’s trekking capital, can be walked end to end in 15 minutes. We heard many accents and languages, even a hiker couple fighting in English which was neither of their first language. There are restaurants, bars, a couple grocery stores, laundry facilities, a bus stop and not much else. The ranger station provides free trail maps of Los Glacieres National Park, which makes up a portion of Patagonia, and we planned to do day hikes each day. The routes lasted anywhere from one hour to five days and all the trails can be accessed directly from town.

The trails are easily marked and well established, we never worried about getting lost. There are also large maps at the main
trailheads, and even rangers there answering questions and reminding hikers of trail etiquette and keeping the park clean. A few primitive bathrooms were also available. I was very impressed with not only the trails but the views – WOW! The views of the Fitz Roy mountain and surrounding peaks and green lagunas were worth the hikes. The week offered mostly clear, sunny skies but a lot of wind, for that area mother nature was at her tip top best. Although we went in high season, we never felt like the trails were crowded. We’d see lots of people at the major viewpoints, but often we’d be walking alone, which was perfect. A few days in we decided to go for a sunrise hike near town. I heard you could see the sun hit the mountains spectacularly, and it was just that. It was a short, very quiet 45 minute hike to Los Condores, and we weren’t even the first ones. A handful of other tourists had arrived before us.

Hiking in the Patagonia region reminded me of what I enjoy about hiking – the scenery, the challenge, but mostly the peacefulness. Each evening after hiking, we’d have a big dinner and a bottle of wine, and it was very rejuvenating. It was also really hard to leave. I’d felt like I spent so much time researching this trip, but being there it was really quite easy. Even if I was a solo female hiker, I would have felt very safe. But we were really excited to get back to El Calafate.

You know you are in a backpacker’s paradise when the city park bench looks like a giant pack.

We took a bus back to El Calafate and we had the afternoon to explore, and while it was defiantly livelier than El Chaltén, we were still able to walk almost everywhere. Almost everywhere – we heard about a Glacier Museum with an ice bar that sounded fun. So, we found their free shuttle bus that took us the three miles to the museum. I can’t say how the museum is, but the Glacio Bar was a blast! The museum itself is in a beautiful building, and the bar is in the basement. We paid the $10USD per person, and got a 25 minute all you can drink, “this is what it must feel like inside a freezer” experience. After donning the provided capes and kitchen mittens, our group entered the tiny room. The few tables, chairs, bar and glasses were all made of ice, and the club lights and Justin Bieber music had me drinking and dancing just to stay warm! It took about five minutes before I was cold (I’m from Texas after all), but my husband said that’s what the straight vodka was for! It was hilarious, and absolutely worth it to take the unexpected detour – as it usually is.

The next day we visited the Perito Moreno Glacier to do ice trekking with Heilo y Aventura. They are the only company that offer glacier trekking, and it was definitely a highlight. It’s much cheaper to take the local bus, but we really wanted to wear crampons and hike on a glacier. If you can spend the money, I’d highly recommend this excursion. The tour includes a boat ride across the lake, where you get your first glimpse of the glacier’s magnitude. The most interesting thing about it is that it’s advancing and not receding like most glaciers. We got a trekking tour on the glacier, had lunch and took the boat back across the lake. Once across that lake, we took the bus to the main park where the viewing boardwalks are packed with spectators waiting for the ice to calve. And when it did, it was an amazing site! But after trying to get a good view around so many people, we were even happier we took the tour because it felt more private.

We were headed to Chile early the next day, so we had one last dinner of lamb and wine. It wasn’t hard to travel around by buses and that’s how most people got around. But we were limited to the days the buses crossed the border. I had only really planned one thing for this trip and that was a day in Antarctica, so no matter what else we did I had to be in Chile on a specific day. Unfortunately, that was a day there was not a bus from Argentina to Chile.

After some searching, I emailed a couple different companies to see if they had private shuttles that would leave early enough to get us across the border to Puerto Natales. Once there we’d catch another bus to Punta Arenas, Chile. Emails were sent, and payments were made via PayPal, so I wasn’t super confident this was legit. But after the whole trip, all the pre-booked transportation I made was on time and exactly as described. So, a large charter bus showed up at our hotel bright and early with many other travelers in the same situation. The border crossing was quick and easy to get our passports stamped leaving Argentina. We stopped again five minutes later at the Chile border. It was also easy but remember to not take any fruit or nuts with you! They made me throw away a banana and an apple, even after I asked if I could just eat it right then – that was my breakfast after all.

There are many parks that make up Patagonia, and after being there I’m eager to explore more of them. All in all Argentina had been everything I hoped, but now on to Chile!

 Tips:

• Change dollars to Argentinian Pesos in a big city before traveling south to Patagonia. There’s only one ATM in El Chalten, which apparently runs out of cash, plus many places don’t take credit cards.
• The WIFI is slow, and I didn’t see one TV in town, including in our hotel (just in case you were hoping to watch the Olympics).
• The daylight hours are long in summer.
• Many hotels have lunchbox (“viandas”) options, that are prepared and ready for you the morning of your hike, costing about $10-15USD.
• If you cross the border, check for items not allowed to avoid throwing away food. Food is not cheap there.