Travelling to El Chalten

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WE’RE NOW on our way between El Calafate which is in that direction somewhere and the next town El Chalten over there. You can probably just see the tiny triangular Mount Fitzroy. That’s where we are heading today. We are going right around this big lake and heading back up in this direction. Again, another beautiful day with these amazing cloud formations which have come over from the Pacific Ocean dumping all the rain on the other side of the mountains and leaving these lee clouds. It kind of reminds me of the Christchurch and Canterbury region north westers. The cloud formations are very similar to them, but it’s obviously quite a bit colder here. We’re quite a way south, I think around 50 degrees south. So anyway, I’d better head back and continue on towards our next destination.

Now we’re reached the entrance to the Glaciers National Park with the spectacular Mount Fitzroy now getting quite close. It’s absolutely amazing here. It’s not far to go before we get to the town.

Well we’ve now arrived in El Chalten as you can see here. It’s a very interesting little town here. If I just scan around you can see there are walls of rock surrounding the town. I think a large glacier once came through here from some of those spectacular mountains up the back. It’s quite an amazing little spot. This town did not exist until 1985. Back then there was a boundary dispute between Chile and Argentina, who owned the land. So, Argentina built this little town here and it has really expanded since tourism started.

This is now the main entrance to the Glaciers National Park. Over here you can probably see mount Fitzroy, standing very tall and with vertical walls of rock all around it. There’s quite a strong wind blowing now creating its own little cloud vortex. It almost gives the impression of an erupting volcano. So, I’m going to be based here for a couple of days (one full day) exploring this area and no doubt meeting up with others in our group as well but we’ve got one full day of free time here to explore the walkways. Looking at the mountains coming in here, it’s hard to see from here because you have low hills and walls of rock around the town. This seems to be the best part of Patagonia area. We’ve been in Patagonia since crossing the Strait of Magellan probably a good 300 to 400 kilometres ago now, maybe even more. This is really a huge area. We’re now up into the Glacier National Park at the top end. We went to the bottom end yesterday and come all the way out to the northern end today. So, this is going to be a pretty awesome area to explore.

Well I’m now at a lookout overlooking the town and it’s blowing a gale up here so you probably can’t hear the audio. Anyway, there’s a spectacular view of the town and across over here to the mountains. I really think this is the pick of the bunch of the mountainous areas of Patagonia. Looks like we’re saving the best till last. So, I’m really looking forward to exploring the area tomorrow. Anyway, I’ve done a short walk up here to the viewpoint overlooking town and I’ve got to head back to the hostel now and get packed up ready for quite a big walk tomorrow.