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The bus from El Bolson to El Chalten took around 22 hours. It was long but it was stunningly beautiful. We were lucky enough to get the two front seats on the upper level so we had 180 degree views as we headed down the road. The colors were so vibrant and we kept taking photos trying to capture the beauty. We would take a photo and then weave around another curve and then decide that the scenery was even more amazing and take another photo. Needless to say, we have a lot of photos from our drive. The highlight, however, was the approach to El Chalten with mountains growing before our eyes. We got our first glimpses of Fitz Roy, the iconic granite peak, that towered over the tiny town of El Chalten nestled in the valley below.
El Chalten has been one of the places we have been excited to visit since the start of our trip. It is known for its beautiful hiking, turquoise lakes, and massive granite rock faces. The town itself was founded in the late 1985, established by the Argentinian government as a outpost to secure its border against disputes with Chile. Since that time it has become a popular destination for trekkers and rock climbers alike.
We arrived in El Chalten the day before Kevin’s birthday. To help us celebrate, Lisa’s sister Rebecca and her boyfriend Michael gave us a reservation at one of the nicest hotels in town. After 22 hours on a bus, this was exactly what we needed. Our room had a huge comfortable bed and arm chairs facing the window with sweeping views of the mountains. We took a short nap and then headed for the hot tub and spa. After an eternity on a bus and countless nights of staying in hostels siting in a hot tub was a true luxury. We then went out to explore the town a bit and ate a delicious dinner consisting on one of the stews the area is known for. We made it back to our hotel in time to watch the sunset.
The next morning we started Kevin’s birthday celebration with one of the most delicious breakfast buffets we have ever had. The spread at the hotel was beautifully prepared with many different individually prepared cakes, cookies, and breads. The granola bar took up entire table with an assortment of fruits, grains, and yogurt. The hot items were just as appetizing. Traveling on a budget, this is not the type of thing we get very often so we ended up spending more than two hours savoring the experience as much as the food at breakfast.
The next item on the birthday agenda was to hike to a mirador (lookout point) that was an hour and half up a trail. It was a great hike and the view was well worth it. From there we actually walked back through town and took the road that leads out of town for a couple kilometers in a different direction to get to another lookout spot.
That evening we switched over to a new hostel and then headed down to the bus station to wait for our friends John and Susan who were joining us for the next week. John is one of Kevin’s oldest friends and aside from Kevin’s parents, John has celebrate more birthdays and unbirthdays (Kevin was a leap-year baby) with Kevin that anyone else. Susan is another one of Kevin’s closest friends who actually met John in London 6 years ago while meeting up with Kevin and started dating a few months later. Lisa was also on that trip so this was a fun reunion for the four of us. We were very excited that they came down to tour patagonia and celebrate Kevin’s birthday with us. John and Susan had started down in Tierra del Fuego (the southern tip of South America) and were flying up to explore El Chalten and El Calafate with us. Unfortunately, we didn’t realize they had found a bus from the airport that would drop them off at their hotel instead of at the bus station (where we were waiting). Sometimes not having a cell phone makes coordinating things like meeting up much more difficult. Eventually we found each other and we headed off to a celebratory dinner for Kevin.
After dinner we made our way back to the hostel to catch up and open one of the bottles of wine that we had been carrying with us since we went wine tasting in Mendoza. As all four of us like wine so we thought it would be fun to have a nice bottle to open on Kevin’s birthday. With everything we carried from place to place it was nice to no longer transport the wine.
The next day, the four of us got up and wandered around town. We ate a lazy breakfast and then geared up for an afternoon hike to Lake Torre. It was the easier (and shorter) of the two day hikes we wanted to do in El Chalten. It took us past the lookout point that we had visited the day before and wound us round to a lake with view of granite towers.
The next day we hiked up to the vista point and lake that is nestled near the foot of Fitz Roy. This hike was considerably harder with the last kilometer or so of rocky switchback leading up the side of the mountain. It was incredible to take in the granite rock face, the glacier, and the turquoise lake. Once we arrived at the shores of the lake we found a few flat rocks and sat down to have our picnic lunch. We could have stayed for days enjoying the majestic landscape, but as the winds picked up and the temperature dropped a little bit we decided to wrap up our picnic and wander around the lake for some more photo opportunities. The lake water was potable so we all filled our water bottles with fresh crisp snowmelt and braced ourselves for the trek back down to town. As always the walk down the mountain was much more trying than the hike up for those of us with knee issues.
We debated staying one more night in El Chalten to do some of the guided activities such as ice climbing, walking on a glacier, or white water rafting. Unfortunately, everything about Patagonia is extremely expensive, especially the activities. We decided instead to take a morning bus the following day to El Calafate where we are excited to see one of Patagonia’s iconic glaciers.