El Chalten

When I was planning this trip, my original idea was to fly in to Buenos Aires, fly out of Rio de Janeiro and travel over land between the two. This plan went up in smoke quickly when I was told by a friend about El Chalten. A backpacking haven with some of the most dramatic landscapes planet earth has to offer, after a bit of research I decided I had to visit. The only problem was it’s so far south it required a complete rethink, leading to my eventual “travel the length of Argentina on buses” plan.

As such, I arrived in El Chalten with some expectations. A place worth replanning my whole trip for. I was a little concerned it wouldn’t quite live up to them. I stayed in Rancho Grande hostel - a backpacking institution - on the recommendation of a friend however it wasn’t quite like most other hostels I’ve been in. Usually, everyone makes eye contact with everyone else, and within second you’ve made a couple of new friends. There is a feeling that everyone expects to socialise with everyone around them. Less so here, where groups have pre-planned their treks and are less interested in any distraction new people might bring. Less fun for a solo traveller, but luckily I’d come in to town with Victoria and met Korin on the bus, so we had an early Christmas eve, ready for our 7am start on Christmas day to tackle El Chalten’s most famous trail. 

Sendero Fitz Roy is a trail that runs 10km from El Chalten to Lago de los Tres, a double lagoon with a stunning view of Fitz Roy mountain (the one that’s drawn on all the expensive Patagonia brand coats). You don’t actually climb Fitz Roy (named after the captain of Darwin’s HMS Beagle), as that would apparently take 4-5 days and far more skill that I possess. It turned out the hike to the lagoons next to it was enough of a challenge in itself. Setting off early, the trail was quiet, except for the occasional group already on their way down, having hiked up in the dark for sunrise. For the first 9km it was a beautiful and fairly easy walk through incredibly varied landscape - at different times sheer rocks, magical forests and wetlands complete with several fun bridges.

Once you hit the last kilometer though, the challenge starts. We were warned before leaving that the last kilometer is steep, and as we reached a fairly steep walk, we assumed we were nearly there. At this point I left Victoria and Korin, wanting to finish the last bit of the hike at a slighlty faster pace. It then got steeper, and I assumed we must be close to the end. And then the walk became a rock scramble. At times climbing up 70 degree slopes, giving up with trekking poles in order to climb with 4 limbs, sometimes holding ourselves against the rock to avoid being blown off by strong winds. It was hard work. But once I arrived at the lagoon, it was so worth it. A deep blue lagoon with huge chunks of ice floating in it, in front of the jagged peaks of Fitz Roy and it’s neighbours jutting in to the sky, and small smoky clouds rolling over them. Truly, one of the most dramatic views I’ve seen. It was well worth the extra push to make it up there. I sat and had some well earned lunch.

There is a subplot to this story. Victoria, Korin and I had decided that given it was Christmas day, it would be a fun idea to buy a nice bottle of wine (which only cost around £2) and share it at the top. I carried the wine up, and while the extra weight made the rock climb a little more of a challenge, I knew it would be worth it once we had a sip at the top of a mountain. Victoria and Korin arrived at the lagoon around 30 mins after I did, but sadly had a bus to catch and couldn’t stay up for long - not long enough to enjoy some wine. I faced a dilemma. I couldn’t pour the wine away, I couldn’t drink it all (especially given I now knew how tough the descent would be) and I really didn’t want to carry the weight of an almost full bottle back down again. Never have I been so grateful for Australians. I met a few who were delighted to help out (I felt a bit like Santa, wishing everyone Merry Christmas) and ended up walking back down solo with only half a bottle of wine of extra weight.

Hiking solo, as I found walking down Sendero Fitz Roy, and to and from Lago Torre the next day, is rarely truly solo. After seeing the same people a couple of times, you just start chatting. I learned about different people’s journeys as we leapfrogged each other, and saw some of the same people again that evening and the next day. On my way back from Lago Torre, I got chatting to Gabriel, an Argentinian travelling Patagonia for his couple of weeks off work, and then Nick from Surrey. We chatted for hours and ended up walking down together and sitting in a bar for a few hours that evening, and joined by several people who walked past - Simi, who I’d met on the way up to Lago Torre, Korin, who Nick had met the previous day, Olaf and Ole, two Norwegians who Nick had briefly met before. We chatted, ate and drank and I particularly enjoyed watching the rest of the day’s hikers coming back from their hikes in various states of tiredness and elation. In chatting to Nick, he mentioned he and a couple of people he’d met were going for a gaucho experience the next day - horse riding and a meal cooked over an open fire at a ranch around 30 mins away from El Chalten. I wasn’t expecting much from such a touristy package, but given I hadn’t met so many people here I booked it that evening.

After 40km covered in the previous two, the next day started with a rest. At 11 I headed out on a short hike (only an hour each way) to a nearby waterfall. Someone had described it to me as not that impressive, but a nice walk. Perhaps they had just come from Iguazu, but the waterfall was at once serene and powerful. I stayed for around an hour and a half, dipping my feet in the very cold glacier water, listening to the power of the crashing water and feeling the spray on my face. It was such a contrast from the last couple of days, where the beautiful views had been accompanied by physical challenge, to focus purely on the nature and just sit with it, with no daunting 4 hour walk home to think about. I’m not always the best at just taking in moments, but here it came easily. I returned to the town, and felt a little disappointed the walk was over so fast.

Around 5.30pm we were picked up for our gaucho experience. On arrival, we first had to cross the most fun and wobbly bridge I’ve ever experienced. Around 50 metres in length, over a river and designed to sway in the strong winds it has wooden plans to walk on and metal wire at the sides, which I wasn’t convinced would actually catch me if I fell. On the other side we were introduced to our horses - mine was called “El Chalten”, I think because he was huge - and climbed on. I last rode a horse on Rapa Nui/Easter Island, and had fun but didn’t do a great job of learning to control it. At first I struggled again (although the horses mostly knew what to do anyway), but as we rode together I felt a real bond forming with my horse, and I started to be able to guide him to one side where there was a clear path to trot in to and overtake others. I did not expect a short horse riding experience to make me quite so happy! In a particularly magical moment, a group of wild horses playfully ran together near us. The incredible views of mountains, rivers and plains, the worlds happiest two dogs running alongside us the whole way, and feeling like El Chalten and I were together in this was overall just bliss. I have a real urge to learn to ride a horse, although my back has taken a beating and might have other ideas. I gave El Chalten a big hug and a good long stroke. What a beautiful animal. I’m really quite sad I won’t see him again.

We finished with a sumptuous meal. Various sausages to start (I’m not usually a fan of blood sausage, but I even enjoyed that), vegetables and a huge side of lamb all roasted over an open fire accompanied by salads. It smelt and tasted delicious. We ate and watched the sun set behind Fitz Roy, which we had an perfect view of from the restaurant - a corrugated iron building on the ranch, cosily furnished. Dessert was apples cooked in Malbec, a trio played us some Patagonian music and eventually we headed off home.

And with that it was time to leave El Chalten. The next day, after doing some much needed trip admin and treating myself to a steak, I got on the first of my 24+ hour buses. I started off with sky high expectations of El Chalten. It was a little less full of new friends than I was hoping for, but the nature - what I was here for - delivered in a big way. What a stunning place to spend some time. I’ll always remember El Chalten - both the place and my new horse friend.