El Chalten
El Chalten is a part quaint village, part wild-west and part camp holiday park; the shops are akin to communist Russia, the prices exceed central London. The streets are wide and the buildings are low and many of them painted in bright colours which is delightful, and incongruous. If you have travelled as far as El Calafate to see the Perito Moreno Glacier, I would highly recommend you go a little further up the road to experience the charms of El Chalten. The village exists mainly for hikers and you can just walk out of the village straight to the trails – there are no ridiculous entrance fees and, when I was there, no annoying path hogging groups. My only regret is that I didn’t stay longer, hike more, eat more, drink more Malbec; it it a truly lovely little place.
Laguna del los Tres and Mount Fitzroy.
After the swathes of relentless rain which pelted me in the Torres del Paine, I was very happy to have perfect Autumn weather. A thin layer of snow covered the forest floor as I set off up the pathway towards Laguna del los Tres. The trees, the leaves, the foliage on the ground – everything was spiked with icy crystals, everything sparkled. The sky was cloudless and beautifully intense.
The trail is easy to follow; I’m not saying you couldn’t get lost – but I think it is fairly easy to stay on track. I managed it at least so it can’t be that difficult. It is about a ten/fifteen minute walk out of the town centre to the start of the hike and then a fairly gentle path towards Laguna de los Tres. One section is like a heathland scrub, and full of the beautiful muted colours of Autumn. March is a great time of the year to go as it is just past peak season so not too cold but not overrun with tourists.
I bumped into Christine on the way up, a lovely woman from North Carolina who I’d met in El Calafate, so we walked the rest of the trek together. She was one of many American hikers I met in Patagonia, most of whom felt the need to apologise for Trump before saying anything else. We did have an interesting discussion about gun culture and I learnt that it is not a faux par to ask an American whether they own a one. She didn’t but her boyfriend did, in fact he had several guns which he kept in the house. She didn’t know why; neither did I (although to shoot people sprang to mind); she vowed to ask him on her return to the US. It was an interesting chat, although somewhat incongruous to our incredible surroundings.
The last section of this hike is a steep uphill climb which I imagine would quite strenuous if you are unaccustomed to hiking, but for a regular fit-ish kind of person, it wouldn’t pose too many problems. At the top, the view of Laguna del los Tres and the jagged peaks of Mount Fitzroy staring down was perfect. The snow was thick, the sun was bright and the light was painful on the eyes – shades are essential. We slip-slided down a snowy bank to the shore of the Laguna del los Tres, and then up to where there is another (secret) lagoon.
