El Chalten - More Backcountry Beauty

After successfully completing the ¨W¨ in Torres del Paine Liz and I were thirsty for another trekking adventure. We had heard great accounts from other travelers of hikes around El Chalten, Argentina and decided to make our way north. Liz and I arrived in El Chalten after a short 3 hour bus ride from El Calafate. The weather upon arrival was windy and wet but we were hopìng that things might improve while we picked up some last minute supplies. Argentineans love their siesta so we had to find a grocery store and a place to get more gas for our stove before everyone in town (which was few) closed their eyes for a few hours. Luckily for us we found what we needed but unfortunately the weather was only getting worse. We stored what we didn´t need at a hostel we would be coming back to in 3 days. While doing so we chatted with some old friends we ran into once again, were told we were crazy for setting out in the current weather, and decided ¨oh well¨ and took off. What were we down here for anyway, to sit around like alot of other travelers checking Facebook all day?

So after rigging some trashbags over our backpacks we stepped out into the rain and wind to see how much mother nature had in her. The hikes ahead of us would be much shorter compared to the W so our first leg was estimated at 3 hours. This time was spent maniacally laughing at the horizontal rain that was being blown into us , seeing other trekkers come out of the woods sopping wet who were obvioulsy not prepared, and stumbling across a couple who were completely drenched, standing in the middle of the path, and being a bit overly affectionate under the circumstances. Liz ended up having to tap them on the shoulder to ask them to move as they had no idea we were standing right there.

Once we finally made it to our campground the wind and rain died down and our neighbors, who were in their tent the whole day due to the weather, came out to say hello. Sean and Sarah were down in Argentina for a few weeks from Northern California and we ended up learning alot about one another over the next couple days as we explored the rest of the park. Sarah is a massage therapist and wedding planner and Sean has a farm which they both look after with goats, chickens, hops and more. We were lucky to have befriended them and really enjoyed their company while camping. After a brief getting to know you Liz and I crawled into our tent to get warm and moments later the rain began and it rained, and rained, and rained that night. So much so that we ate dinner in our tent and decided not to drink any water so we wouldn´t have to leave to go to the bathroom.

The next day turned out to be perfect, allowing us to hike up to the main attraction of the area, Monte Fitz Roy, and snap some photos. The wind and rain, however, hit us again that night. While in our sleeping bags we could hear the wind building as it raced down the valley through the trees and then finally rushing over our tent. Day 3 was another beauty which allowed us to hike to another campground in just shorts and T´s in an effort to get as close as possible to Cerro Torre. We were lucky to not have any rain that night, but heard warnings that a storm would be coming through the next afternoon. We decided we would make our way out in the morning after breakfast and hopefully beat any bad weather.

As we headed back into town after our third night of camping and fifth day of not showering it was funny to pass the day hikers coming out into the park. Alot of them smelled fresh from a morning´s shower and a dash of cologne or perfume. On our second day I was humored at the base of Fitz Roy when I watched a woman with a guide apply lip gloss and check her hair. It was also on the bus to El Chalten that I realized I/we are on a different trip than some others when I watched a guy my age pull out a videogame system and begin playing at 8 am while I cracked open Three Cups of Tea. I have had the chance to read three books so far on this trip and this was by far one of the best I have ever read. If you haven´t heard Greg Mortenson´s story than get this book ASAP.

Despite some rain, however, the trek was a success. We saw more great natural beauty, got some more exercise, and made some more good friends. We are really enjoying our time in the outdoors and can´t get enough of it. I wish more people would realize how easy it is to sleep outdoors with the bare minimum as opposed to having massive houses filled with items we believe we must have to make our lives complete.

Below are a few pictures from this leg of our trip but please also take a look at http://picasaweb.google.com/lizhaske/TrekkingInElChalten?authkey=Gv1sRgCPOjhe__iLSxEA

Monte Fitz Roy

Leaving our campground and Fitz Roy

First view of Cerro Torre

Cerro Torre

I am baffled by the people I see smoking and hiking