El Chalten

El Chalten is about 3 hours north west of El Calafate. It's at the northern end of the National Park. This place is fantastic! There is no entrance fee, and visitors are greeted at the information lodge with friendly staff and a surprisingly tolerable conservation awareness talk. The info station has some nicely arranged images and informative displays.

The beautiful thing about all these towns is that you can drink the water straight from the tap. It comes directly from the abundant glaciers in the area and is 'usually safe.'

Chalten is even smaller and more rustic than El Calafate. The place is littered with hostels and second only to Ushuaia in the beauty of its natural setting. It's location allows for hikers, ice and rock climbers and anyone else to access some fantastic hikes within a day of the town.

This is the magnificent Cerro Torre, rumored to be the hardest peak in the world to climb. Take a look at the picture and I think that's understandable.

The famous Mt. Fitzroy. Much of the hike had these amazing towers covered in clouds, but after about 30 minutes of waiting at the Lago dos Tres we were given a decent view. Got very burned on this day.

We found a great little place to eat in El Chalten. It's called La Senyera or something like that. The food was reasonably priced, the environment very small and homely feeling (usage of the word meaning like unto a home and not as a euphomism for less-than-attractive physical appearance) and the small staff very friendly. I was impressed by small things about the place--things that made is stand out from the U.S. in terms of business practice. The place is quite popular; every night we were there they were turning people away for lack of room. I don't know that the restaurant had more than 10 tables or so. One of the biggest tables was occupied with a dummy dressed as a Gaucho or something and a patron registry book sat near him. I was considering how the management could have increased their revenues dramatically by moving the dummy and book anywhere else, opening that table, and accepting quite a few more customers, but I am glad that financial profit doesn't seem to be their priority. Argentina has really impressed me so far in regards to things like this and their focus on customer service.

My only complaint (not even a complaint to be honest) is that one of the lights doesn't ground correctly and I got a fairly invigorating 220 volt shock out of it. Very strong experience for my whole left arm.


A fair amount of wood peckers on the trail