Argentina-Patagonia: El Calafate

On and off I spent three days in El Calafate with the Patagonia tour group. I first landed here on 24 March, stayed just that one evening. Came back on 27 March, stayed 28 March and left on 29 for Chile. The last stop was on 1 April for one night. In retrospect, one more evening or morning would have been really good to see everything in this small lovely city.

I was on the plane with at least two other group members and then found out there was one more. Our guide, Pili, picked us up at the airport. All five of us headed to the airport. The openness of the region was just amazing to me. There were snow capped Andes mountain range far away, the lake (Lake Argentina) in front of it, all barren land and then us on the road. So much space. It felt so freeing. 

The hotel is about 25 mins from the airport and on the outskirts of the city. Just the entry into the hotel driveway was beautiful. Kau Yatun hotel is on a sheep ranch, so there is open grazing area around it. Lots of flowers. Apparently they are the providers of flowers to everyone in town, although later I saw the town had so many roses! Check in was smooth, room was great with a large window looking into the garden. Just peaceful. We met as a group at 6 pm for about an hour and a half and then some were off for dinner, I did not need any. I went for a walk, but in the wrong direction, so I came back. It was also getting late. I will be back here again to explore more.

Next morning we got up and drove to El Chalten. (another blog on this). 

27 March: Evening in El Calafate

Two days later, we are back in El Calafate by evening. Today we have plenty of time to walk around the lake. Julie also wanted to do this walk, so we got a cab and got dropped off at the tip of C-2 and C-406. It seems to be a new development for hotels and apartments. It was cold, but doable. Saw some ducks. The goal was to walk towards the city, past the nature preserve, hopefully see some birds and see the sunset and return to the hotel. Well....none of that happened. The preserve was kind of closed, and there were no birds around, and the sunset was kind of meh. But it was still a good walk. 

Julie was not able to get an Uber and we did not really know how to get a cab, so we walked to restaurant and asked them to call one for us. Day is over! 

28 March: Perito Morino Glacier

Next day we were going to see the Perito Moreno glacier. It is a national park. The drive to it was about 2 hrs on a gravel road. On the way we saw some wildlife, some cool scenery of Lago Argentino, a ranch building that has been there for a long time, a peace monument to all the slaves who worked for these ranchers. Pili is a good tour guide, very conscientious, environmentalist, historian, etc etc. And she keeps up with politics and geography of many places.  

One other place we stopped on the dirt road was a basic hotel with restaurant and restrooms. Really fantastic location – in the middle of nowhere! There was just mountains and land all around. So peaceful….but boring for living there.

Our first glimpse of the Perito Moreno glacier was amazing! We stopped to take some pictures and continued on up the hill to reach the top. 

There was a restaurant and restrooms. Always need restrooms. 

Then it was the boardwalk walk for the next two hours. We did not have our lunch yet. It was not as cold as I was thinking it would be. My fluff jacket was good enough. Each turn and walk brought us to a more beautiful view of the glacier. If we just stopped for a few minutes, we would see a shelf fall off into the lake. Marvelous! The color of the glacier was just amazingly blue. I was just in awe. We walked quite a bit to get different views. We kept walking down towards the water since we eventually have to take a boat ride. 

We got our lunches from the bus, which also came to the bottom of the hill. Another restaurant and another restroom later we picked up our lunch, but honestly there was no time to eat. We boarded the boat and within 5 mins we were all outside admiring the glaciers. Took soooo many pictures with my phone and camera.

On the way back, we made one last stop at a glacier viewpoint where Pili had a surprise for us. She had brought some glacier ice and some wonderful local liqueur made from Calafate berries (the blue ones from the Calafate plant). It was sweet and yum! Had seconds also. It was wonderful to enjoy one last hurrah of the glacier. 

The drive back did not seem long. I ate my sandwich, quite messily. It was not the best. The cookie was not that great either. I will not be able to eat the apple, so I have to leave it in the hotel. 

I took a short nap, and we were in the city. Asked to be dropped off in the city center. Isabel and I walked around. I ended up buying earrings for myself and a nice pendant and earring set for Bijayita. I also found a small bottle of the Calafate wine that Pili had for us. That brand (Mili Mele) was a pure production of the liqueur. Most shops were quite expensive. Ultimately we went into the grocery store to get some chips and cookies (for me). And that is it. Time to get back to the hotel.

One thing to note is that there are too many stray dogs in the city, but they are not aggressive. They also look healthy and well groomed. Someone must be taking care of them. The city is generally clean and safe to walk around. They have created some iconic places where to take pictures. The city is developing. It can be good and bad. 

All in all great day! Tomorrow we will off to Chile. Two days later we will be back in El Calafate for the last night. 

1 April: Walk in the City

It was going to be a long drive to El Calafate from Puerto Natales. Reached the border, got Chile stamp again on passport, went to Argentina border, no stamp. After a few miles, changed the bus for the Argentina side. It was a bigger and more comfortable bus. The sun was out and it was getting warm. Lunch was at Esparanza – nothing much, just an empanada. Then we were on the road again. Stopped at one of the highest points to admire the Calafate valley. It was beautiful. Another 30-40 mins and we were back at Kau Yaten hotel for a third time. 

Had some tea and rested. Chatted with Malu and Isabel for a while. Around 6 left to walk around the town with Malu. We were looking for a thank you card for Pili but did not find any. I did end up buying a cosmetic travel case. 

Met for dinner with the group at …. We are now less three people, the Aussies and Julie. The dinner was great. Everyone was really fun to be with. Dinner was soup, ravioli and most wonderful ice cream – courtesy of Say Hueque. In between there was bread, and with dinner there was some salad and fries. Say Hueque gave us two gifts – one they planted trees in all our behalf in Patagonia and two a lovely notebook by a local artist in El Chaltein. So lovely. 

This really was such a great experience. I will never forget the people, the conversations and friendship made here. And Pillar/Pili was just amazing. Too good. I will write more about her at the end. 

We walked back to the hotel and got an envelop and sheet of paper from the desk to give our tip for Pili.

That was it for El Calafate. Next morning we were to fly out, but flight was delayed by 4 hrs. Luckily for me, I did not miss my connecting flight from BA to Iguazu. It was really lovely to see fresh snow in Patagonia from the plane. I don't know if I will be back, but I know I will never forget this beautiful place. 

Argentina-Patagonia: Puerto Natales

29 March: Drive to Puerto Natales

Today we have to drive to Puerto Natales in Chile. Left at 8 am for the about 5 hr drive. The drive initially was quite boring. Just vast land of nothing. No mountains or rivers, just the semi desert. We stopped after about an hour and half for bathroom and coffee break. Pili had some great croissants for us from Don Luis in El Calafate. Really tasty. And what a nice surprise. Then she also had us try mattey – an Argentinian hot tea kind of drink made from local plants. Kind of like green tea, but it was bitter for me as it was without sugar or milk. But very nice of her to explain so much in detail on how to make it. (Add some mattey to a cup, shake it dry with hand to get the powder out as it is acidic. Then move it about 45 degree angle and add hot (not boiling) water. Use a straw with holes to drink the mattey. Add more hot water to get more mattey out of the leaves. Do not stir the leaves as it will become useless. No one says thank you to mattey unless they are done and don’t want anymore).  It is quite a tradition here. I see many people walking around with the mattey cup (with straw). Interesting. 

Around 12:30 we reached the Argentinian border. They checked our passports – why? We were leaving, not entering. It was a strange immigration center, in the middle of nowhere. Even the road to get there was gravel road. After clearing that, and driving for 5 mins, we reached the Chilean border. Everyone had to get out again for immigration. I got the Chile stamp on my passport! They gave us a slip (PDI) that has to be kept for departure.  

We stopped at the next building over for lunch. It was a nice coffee/snack and gift shop. I had a margarita empanada. It was okay. Gift shop was expensive, but I did buy an magnet and some chocolates. We also picked up our Chilean guide, Yasser (pronounced Jasher). Nice young man. 

From the gift shop, we started our about 40 min journey to Puerto Natales. The scenery got better and better. We could see the Torres Paine (pronounced paayney) park on the right. The huge mountains covered in snow. Apparently they are not sedimentary but granite rocks (like the Fitz Roy), indicating that their formation is a bit different.

Stopped at a huge lake which was really really green and full of algae. It was very strange looking.  Saw some condors flying over. For the past hour or so, we have seen the foliage also change, so the sheep are gone and cows are in as it is more grassy and there are also trees. 

Puerto Natales came soon enough. We checked into our hotel, Vendaval and are down again for the city tour. Walked around the small touristy city. It has a nice character. El Calafate was nice too but this is cuter. There are plenty of places to eat. Sadly, I have not needed to eat dinner yet.  Maybe tomorrow? 

We walked around for 2 hours. It was a slow tour. Not much …city is about 120 years old. Spanish came and colonized it – killed off all the natives. Geologically, all this was a huge water body – about 100 million years ago. Then things changed, there were ice fields and now ice fields are receding, leaving this vast space of greenery. 

It was really windy and cold. Tomorrow I will have to take my scarves with me, wear two socks and both my jackets. The only thing I am missing is gloves. 

Came back to the hotel around 5:30 pm. At 6ish went up on the rooftop bar to get my free drink – coffee 😊. It was nice. Talked a bit to the group members. Went to see the tourist shop Nandu. Not much to buy, but got luggage tags as gift items. Walked back to the hotel to go upstairs to see the sunset. Changed my mind and decided to walk to the water to see it. And I am glad I did. The sun set behind the clouds quite quickly so not much to see there, but the colors afterwards were pretty for about 30 mins. It was cold and windy, but I made it! 

That is it. Day is over! 

30 March: Torres Paine National Park

Off to Patagonia today – the Torres Paine national park. It is a huge park! Got ready to go by 7:30 am. It is cold today. I really should have brought some warm clothes. At least gloves! Some rain pants and jacket would have been good too….well.

The main thing in the park is the big granite rocks in the middle which are not sedimentary rocks but granite. There are two main peaks – the horns (Curenos) and the big mountain (Paine Grande). Both are snow covered and are quite challenging for mountain climbers. There are many lakes in the park from the melting glaciers on the peaks. Some of the colors of the lakes are amazing – grey, green to blue.

We entered the park after about 2 hours of driving from Puerto Natales. Our first stop was a bathroom break. With some scenic points here and there, the second stop was the hike to see the Grey Lake. I did not go, it was raining and was cold. Sanjeev also did not go. We had coffee and sat and chatted for a while. The sun came out so I decided to go for the hike for a bit. It was lovely. I walked for about 15 mins when I saw the lake and the mountains behind it. It was just gorgeous. The sun was out and life seemed just great! There was no one for far far away. These beautiful mountains and lake was all mine to enjoy. But soon everyone came back from their hike. I don’t think their view was that much better than what I saw.

Next stop was another visitor center where we had lunch. Great lunch, they give a lot in that bag – salad, nuts, granola bar, chocolate, water and banana. I could not eat it all. Jasser gave us a little geology and geography lesson of the park in the visitor center. Interesting.  It’s really a big park.

Then it was time for the next hike. Now the rain started. We were getting close to the center of the park where the granite peaks were. We saw a waterfall on the way, which is where we were going. I managed to get my scarf and made myself a little warm to walk up to the waterfall. Luckily it cleared just enough for us to see the horns. But it was windy and too damn cold. I think I could have managed both, but the rain was not acceptable since I did not have waterproof gear. This is one hike I wish I was prepared for. I missed it. But my jeans were already wet and I did not have gloves so I was miserably cold! The waterfall was lovely. It was just too windy to even walk straight. 

I came back to the bus and sort of dried off. Everyone came back one hour later. After a quick bathroom break we drove back. There was one other stop for photos....just a bit of sun was looking from behind the clouds.

Reached PN by 7:30 pm. Too cold and rainy to go anywhere. I just wanted to get warm. Did I mention we saw so many rainbows??

That is it….

31 March: Cruise to Balmaceda and Serrano Glaciers

Really early start to the day today at 5:30 am to reach the cruise/boat place by 7 am. Met everyone in the lobby by 6:45 and Pili walked us to the boat place 21MayTurismo. Really nice of her to make sure we sat together for lunch. She is just amazing! A but promptly took us to the boat and we all got on. As soon as the boat started we were all outside, the sunrise was gorgeous. The staff served us coffee and a granola bar. Soon after the snow capped mountains came and it was almost impossible to sit inside. It was so cold outside but it was just one thing after another, the mountains, the cormorants, the seals, the waterfall, the Serrano glacier. 

Last was the 2 mile (round trip) hike to Balmaceda glacier. What a lovely hike!! The flora was just beautiful. It started drizzling a bit, but still the hike was very beautiful and the glacier was gorgeous. The walk back was on slightly different trail.

What was really nice was that all the staff on the boat were also on the trail guiding us. One of them brought a piece of glacier on the dock…awesome! It was so big and heavy. Looked really pure. There were restrooms at the end of the walk. As we departed from there, the staff brought us juice or whiskey with glacier ice. Such a great trip! 

Then it was time to dock and get off for lunch. This was done on an island off the fjord. My, what a nice building they had made. So beautiful. The Say Hueque group sat together. We had a lovely lunch. First drinks, I had pineapple juice. The bread and salad were already there. Then came soup, split pea soup for me. really good. Then the main meal, I have no idea what I ate….it was okay. And finally dessert. So good – like a creamy thing with fruit on it. 

Walked around a bit around the island…so peaceful. Saw rainbows! I think I got this one as the half circle. It was just a lovely feeling.

The ride back was quite uneventful. Went out to do one last photoshoot and then the next 40 mins or so were inside playing games on the phone. Everyone was either taking a nap or taking a break from talking. We are going to meet later again for dinner anyways….

Off from the boat, into the van and back near the 21mayo place. Malu and I went for coffee in a cute pink coffee place. It was nice to sit and talk to her. I wanted to go for a little shopping after coffee so we went our separate ways. I found the wonderful souvenir shop that had some nice affordable and different kinds of things. Bought some stuff. Started walking a bit here and there, enjoying the shops and got a little turned around. Started walking back and ran into Isabel who was going lotion hunting, so went with her. Went into a couple shops and then came back. Left her to do some shopping while I needed to decompress a bit before dinner. 

At 6:15 everyone was downstairs and we walked together to El Bote. There really was nothing much vegetarian there, but since I am the only different one, I went along with it. I ordered some zucchini fritters, which came with mashed potatoes with Merken, a powder of smoked Chilean peppers, mixed with coriander seeds. I did not care much for the spice, but apparently is liked all over the world. Everyone ordered some fish dish. After about 30 mins of smelling it, I almost wanted to throw up, so I had to leave quickly. It really got too intense suddenly. I really wanted to have tiramsu but I could not even stay for that. Coming out of the restaurant into the fresh air was such a relief. 

That is it – that’s the day. Tomorrow we go back to El Calafate.

Argentina-Patagonia: El Chalten

25 March: El Chalten, Hike to Laguna Capri to see Fitz Roy

We are leaving early today for El Chalten. Luggage was loaded and we were ready to go around 8:30 am. The road, Route 40, was quite scenic. Mountains on both sides, the river winding from left to right. We saw some wildlife on the way – guanaco, a cousin of llama, Lesser rhea, a cousin of ostrich, a red fox. The interesting thing is that all these animals were almost the same color as their surroundings, so they blended into the earth. Kike, our driver, was good in spotting all these. We started seeing Mt. Fitz Roy soon and the view got better and better. We started seeing the Torres (the three towers), the Solo (the youngest of the mountain with a glacier on top). There were glaciers in the back range also. Just gorgeous. We made a couple stops to take photos. There was also the bathroom and coffee stop at La Leona.

On the way - Route 40

Starting to see Fitz Roy

The ranches that we are seeing are called Estancia and they can be really huge swaths of land.

We reached El Chalten by 12:30 or so. Checked into our rooms, Posada El Barranco hotel, and got our lunch bags for the hike and off we went. This hike was to see Laguna Capri, a lagoon from where we get a scenic view of Mt. Fitz Roy. It was about 9 km round trip. They told us that there would be about 1.4 km of incline. I was done in the first 30 mins! But there was no stopping. The only saving grace was that there were group members slower than me. The embarrassing thing was that they were 20 years older than me! Oh well. I went at my pace. It was bloody hot and I was sweating. We got to one beautiful viewpoint and had lunch there. We had done less than 2 km only. Yikes! Sandwich was really good. Well…got up and starting walking again. The hike was not hard, it was just the incline that was killing me. And then I had to go. So I had to go behind the bushes, where others had also gone as the evidence they left of all the toilet paper….not good.

After 1 km of hiking

Later on at a small stream, Pilli filled my water bottle. Really wonderful cold water. So refreshing to drink. 

We reached Laguna Capri around 3 pm. It was gorgeous. The day was beautiful and mountains were all clear and crisp to look at. The lake was just gorgeous. All the sweat was worth it. I took off my shoes and stepped into the lake, just feet. The water was chilly!! Such a rush. I had to get out in 15 secs. Sat there for 15 or so mins to enjoy the view and take photos. I filled my water bottle again with the lovely cold water for drinking.

Laguna Capri

Then the slow group walked with Pili. The fast walkers could enjoy a bit more if they wanted but they still passed us on the trail! We took our time and reached down by 6:30 pm. There was not enough time to go to the hotel for a change and the restaurant we are going to was still a mile away, so Pili found a ride for us poor souls.

It was a small place and one could choose from a 3 or 5 course menu. I chose 3, although I would have been sufficient with just one. We get an appetizer, main course and either salad or dessert. I selected dessert. While the dinner was being prepared three musicians came out and played some songs. Nice atmosphere.

First came the appetizer – lots of meat for the carnivores. I have no idea what the vegetarian option was – some potato maybe? There were grilled tomatoes and mushrooms. There was not much taste in it, but the sauce they had with it was tasty, so I ate everything with it. They brought out a bread basket, then some salad, even though we did not need one.  The main course was grilled vegetables and some cheese potatoes. The grilled vegetables were all so charred that it was impossible to eat them. I had to send them back. I did not want a replacement because I was full and also was not interested in just eating more vegetables. Then they brought dessert but forgot mine. Pffff….so annoying. Terrible. Finally they did bring the dessert but it was such a tiny amount. They still charged the full $55. Terrible experience.

Beautiful El Chalten

Cheezy bake

Walked back to the hotel and took a shower (finally), but could not sleep till after 12 am. We don’t have to leave tomorrow until 9 am so I can afford to sleep in.

26 March: Hike to Cerro Torre

Got up around 8 am …wow. Late for me. Outside the sun was still rising and the sky looked beautiful. Am so much in two minds about going at all for the hike today. It was decided yesterday that there will be two groups – one for short and one for long hike. Short is 10 km round trip vs 20 km. I am definitely the short hike. But that also I am debating. But then I decided, everyone is slow in this group, I will be fine. It was a good decision.

We left around 9 am after collecting our lunches. Had to walk about 15 mins to get to the trail head. We will first go to a waterfall, Margarita, and then the long hike group will go off while we will go on our short hike. This hike was lovely, and Pili is just amazing tour guide. Even getting to the waterfall showed that this hike was more challenging than yesterday, in certain places, but overall it was better. We got to the waterfall, where there was not much to see because there was not much water in it (no rains), but the river below, the Fitz Roy, was beautiful to see. The color was so different, and it was moving with a lot of intensity. Took photos and moved on. 

Margarita Falls

Mt Fitz Roy at the back

The next 2 hours went slowly and steadily with beautiful views. I really enjoyed the slow pace of this hike. As usual, filled our water bottle with cold stream water on the way.

The Cerro Torre viewpoint was just breathtaking. All the glaciers, the mountains, the river.  All too good. Took plenty of photos. Ate some snack. And then it is time to trek back. This hike as much as it was slow paced, it was also quite up and down and dangerous in some places. Too many boulders, odd shaped steps, some place we had to hold chains to go up. We had to be careful. Saw some mushrooms, flowers, birds. Pili knows a lot about the natural habitat, so we were learning a lot. We were all also chatting a lot with each other. 

Got back down by 3ish. Went to this open restaurant for drinks – chilled coke. It was great. Came back to the hotel, took a shower and rested. Ate my sandwich, it was good. Pili sent a message to meet at 6:30 in the lobby for information, so went down. All good. The long hike people were there too….I saw their photos and I am so glad I did not do that long hike. There are clouds over the mountains! It’s clear and sunny but cannot see the three peaks (Torres Pines). The lagoon is also kind of murky because of the sediments of the river. So the pictures don’t look as great as yesterday’s lake pics were. But of course, they enjoyed.

El Chalten from above

Dinner was at… I just had one empanada. I cannot eat so much. From tomorrow on, no dinner at all. 

27 March: El Chalten and drive back to El Calafate

Today was an easy going day. I was not planning on hiking to the waterfall after hearing that it was a 4 mile round trip. Nope…I know I have to walk later so I am saving my energy. I wanted to see the city, do some souvenir shopping and just be by myself, I walked along the one street in the town. Walked on to the end of the town, crossed the bridge but came back to the river. Walked along the river till there was no more trail. It was really pretty scenery all along. Walked back to Bennaton (Sebastian's bakery) to have coffee and something to eat (Focaccia). All good. Walked back to the hotel. Ended up doing all this once more with Julie, but the sun was quite high so not as scenic anymore. 

We left El Chalten at 2:15 or so, stopped at the La Leona place for bathroom break and reached the Kau Yaten hotel by 5:30 pm. The rest of the day's events are in El Calafate blog. 

Argentina-Patagonia - The Planning

I had always wanted to go to Argentina to see the mountains and of course Iguazu falls. This year is the year!

I searched for a company that could plan for me since I don't speak Spanish. I was hoping they would make a tour for me from Patagonia, Buenos Aires and Iguazu Falls. I looked for a bunch of the standard companies but they were not able to provide extensions to BA and IF. I kept searching and found this company called Say Hueque (pronounced Saai Huaykay). The lady, Melina, said there was a tour going in March if I wanted to join a solos tour. Perfect! It would be a small group of 15 people. And they can provide me extensions for BA and IF. Also great! 

The tour itself starts from El Calafate and was about $3500 but that excluded getting to El Calafate from BA. Then I will have to fly back to BA and then to IF. They will make the reservations for me, air, hotel, transfers from airport. All would come around $6000. Sounds good to me. This does not include travel from USA. That is fine. I can do those.

So it was done! I paid 60% in Jan and the rest in March. So I am all set. The program is as follows:

21 March - Depart for BA,
22 - arrive BA,
23 - spend in BA,
24 - leave for El Calafate where the tour starts
24-2 April - Patagonia tour: El Calafate to El Chaltein to El Calafate to Puerto Natales (Chile) and back to El Calafate.
2 April - leave for BA after tour, reach IF same day
3-4 - Iguazu Falls
5-6 - BA and back to USA.

I booked my flight using Travelocity from West Palm Beach. I went to Houston to Buenos Aires and same route back (about $1000). Next time for South America I should book from Miami. One mistake I made was that I was supposed to book flight back on 5th but booked it for 6th, so ended up spending one more day in BA which actually worked out perfectly.

Argentina Map