argentina: el chalten

el chalten is another town entirely based on tourism...it's actually located inside parque nacional los glaciares...it's on the other side of a lake from el calafate...you don't have to pay the park entrance fee when you take the bus to town, thank goodness...
i took an early bus from el calafate to el chalten, the ride was only three hours...as we approached el chalten i was stunned by the scenery...who doesn't love driving close to big mountains? beautiful...before taking us to the bus station, the bus stopped at the park office, where everyone was able to get maps and information about hiking routes in the area...

the bus then dropped us at the bus station, from which i walked down the main street of el chalten to find a place to stay...since i was visiting in the middle of winter, not much was open...i walked into one hostel, but couldn't find anyone inside...the door was unlocked, and the radio was playing, but there was no one there...strange...
the only open place i could find was almost at the end of town, which turned out to be rather convenient...i paid for a dorm bed, and ended up being the only person in the room...(one of the benefits of visiting in winter:)...the wifi signal didn't reach all the way to the bedroom, but that was okay, as there was a nice big communal room in which to spend time...

the weather was AWESOME!!! i followed my map, which showed that the start of the hike i wanted to do was at the edge of town...it was very well marked, easy to follow, full of expansive views...this hike was called the cerro fitz roy...i kept stopping for photos, there were just so many amazing views...i took a short break at a lake (totally frozen over, yahoo!! i didn't have the guts to walk out on the ice, not knowing how thick it was) to take it all in...from there i kept walking to a turnaround spot called poincenot...so many colours in the landscape, beautiful mountains, etc...it was amazing...
i had steak for dinner that night at my hostel, it wasn't great...booo...

the next morning the weather was awful...crazy windy...so windy that i had to lean forward in order to make forward progress...i was really glad i had my hat!
the hike i'd chosen for that day was called cerro torre...it would've had more fantastic views, if only everything hadn't been covered by clouds...completely covered...then the rain started...so not only did i feel as though i would be blown off the hiking trail, i was getting wet...ugh...photos were out of the question, i gave in mentally and decided to just be wet...i didn't walk the entire trail, as it became water logged and i didn't have waterproof footwear...nothing was dry...

back at the hotel i killed 2 hours by writing postcards...(i still had a lot to write!)...then i walked back to the bus station to catch my bus back to el calafate from which i'd booked another bus ride...
i wish i'd had more time in el chalten...there were so many other hikes i wanted to do, and the scenery was brilliant!!! someday i will go back!!!