A Hike To Remember

5-03-09 11:03
El Calafate Hostel, El Calafate

Well, time to write down some memories about an amazing day before I fall asleep from exhaustion. Picking up from my last entry, the bus dropped us off right at our hostel when we arrived to El Chaltén. The town was actually founded in 1985 to beat Chile to a land claim and, with a population of 600, it lacks many basic services, including ATMs. The night consisted of wandering around trying to find dinner (unsuccessfully, due to the late hour) and going to sleep around 1. We woke up at 6:30 to get an early start, and after scrounging around for breakfast, we headed toward the Laguna de los Tres Lagos (Lagoon of the Three Lakes) trail.

I’ll try to use the best of my descriptive ability here: we headed west from the town, following a trail that was often rutted wide enough for only one person to pass through at a time. It was amazing how the terrain and views changed so drastically every few meters. I was breathing a little hard from the steep ascent through the forest but the trail leveled out as we emerged into a huge clearing that sloped down to a large river valley surrounded by jagged mountains. I wanted to take a nap in the inclined field until I realized that what appeared to be grass were actually large thorny shrubs. We kept catching glimpses of our destination glacier as we wound through ñire forests with pale, twisted trees, hopped through boggy paths, crossed precarious bridges made out of a log or two, and trekked through more river valleys, We even passed terrains that resembled the beach and the Serengeti plains. I also saw the most spectacular double rainbow of my life - the main one shone so strongly that I could actually see both ends of the rainbow as they descended into the water of the lake and framed the mountain behind it perfectly.

Most of the path was quite enjoyable, and after about 3 hours we arrived at the sign marking the beginning of the steep ascent up the mountain. It warned that it was only meant for experienced climbers with hiking boots and metal poles, but, of course, we weren’t going to turn back. After refilling our water from a stream, we were off. All the water was potable (and cold and delicious) because everything was so pristine – no trash cans, no bathrooms, no hotels, nothing. Everyone also made it a point to not leave anything behind, down to every last spilt corn flake.

After an hour or so spent clambering up rocks, we finally reached the summit and took in the incredible view. Looking behind me to see how far we had hiked and beyond me to see another rainbow over the Laguna Sucia lapping at a large glacier, I felt like I had really accomplished something. Unfortunately, it was very misty and overcast so, although we could see several mountains in the distance, the famous Cerro Fitz Roy (mountain of 3405 m) was merely a silhouette. We decided to hike down the mountainside to the blue glacier lake itself (ironic that the name mean dirty lagoon) and touch the water, although the temperature didn’t feel too much different from the air. I pocketed a couple of the striking red pebbles from the water to join my informal South American rock collection. We then traipsed around the lake to get an even more gorgeous view of another glacier across a very low valley in the distance. From the ledge that was above thousands of meters of nothing, we could even peer to the right and catch a glimpse of the waterfall rushing down the cliff side (very scary viewpoint by the way, especially with the infamous Patagonian wind wiping about). To get an idea of the temperature, I was wearing a shirt, three jackets, and my large colorful scarf wrapped around my head so that only my eyes peaked out, earning me the nickname of ‘little Turkish woman.’

Right as we were deciding to begin our descent (I think my whole body was purple-red from the cold), it started to whip hail and sleet on us - definitely a sign that it was time to go. As we precariously made our way down the mountain, the hail turned into a light rain, which stayed with us for pretty much the rest of the journey. Once we made it down most of the mountain, we sought shelter in the one wooden structure we saw on the whole trail and had a short lunch before continuing our descent. In total, we walked 8.5 hours, and our legs were definitely sore from all the uneven terrain and steep climbs by the time we all collapsed around a table in the hostel’s heavenly warmth. Needless to say, we all slept soundly on the bus back to El Calafate despite being damp from the rain. We arrived at nighttime and Kara and I both groggily awoke to exclaim that we must be in a large city. Quite ironic considering when we first arrived to El Calafate, we couldn’t get over how small it was, especially compared to BA. However, staying in El Chaltén for 24 hours was enough to make this tourist town seem like a suburb of the Capital Federal (another name for the city of BA).

As we hobbled off the bus and headed down the wooded path back to the hostel, I glanced up to the sky and saw the bright half moon framed by a tall silhouette of trees, and I had another ‘life is unbelievable’ moment. After being frustrated with the costly excursions, I had the most amazing 24 hours for only 150 pesos, less than 50 dollars. I am definitely happy that I decided to make that spontaneous decision.

Other random hike details:

There was hardly any wildlife - only a few caterpillars in the forest and a bird or two. We tried making puma sounds so that they would come out and join us, but it was to no avail. However, a fellow hiker did point out a condor up on a cliff out towards the end of our hike.

We kept up morale by signing random songs at the top of our lungs and even playing a rap freestyle game, although I was more focused on putting one foot in front of the other. Apparently I lack coordination here because I had many spectacular falls. The highlights included an attempted race that resulted in me sprawled in the dirt, slipping into a muddy steam while hopping from bank to bank, falling on a sharp rock while coming down the mountain, and getting a face-full of thorny plant in an attempt to stop running and pick up my fallen camera.

Back in El Calafate…

The rest of my night consisted of reuniting with the rest of our group (it’s funny how we miss each other when we are apart - we really all spend so much time together and are such a family), eating some leftover home-cooked food, and heading to a restaurant next door where I tried choripan sandwich, a type of argentine sausage, with this really tasty spicy sauce called chimichuri. We then came back to the hostel and pushed the beds together to watch movies. It was so fantastic to be warm and snuggly after so many hours of being cold.

I ended up falling asleep during a movie around 3:30 but left the hostel at 5 am to pile into a rented car with Lindsay, Henry, and Liz to make the 1.5 hour drive back to Parque Nacional Los Glaciares. We sped through pitch blackness on a mission to capture the sunrise over the Perito Moreno Glacier, when the ice is supposed to turn pink. Sadly, it was overcast as we huddled together at the scenic overlook under blankets stolen from the hostel, so the sun decided not to emerge from behind the mist (despite all the songs we sang containing the word sun or sunshine). It was cold enough that all the surrounding mountains had snowy peaks not present the other day, creating another beautiful landscape. We also saw a bit more ice calving. And although we were unable to see the sunrise over the glacier, it did decide to make a special guest appearance as we drove back to El Calafate and we caught some spectacular views over the lakes and mountains as we sped along the empty road.

Whew! That’s all for now,
Coli