Monday 10 November
We walked to the bus station from our posada (B&B) - only 15 minutes - accompanied by the ubiquitous pack of dogs that trail you everywhere in South America. One was too quick for My Friend & popped into the bus station - for warmth no doubt.
We have a 3-hour trip to El Chaltén further north in Los Glaciares NP. It is a cold, bleak & - need I say it - windy day. Good day to be in the bus which is comfortable & we are up the top in the front with panoramic views. The sun comes out intermittently and the scenery is very nice; it is reminiscent of Arizona in the USA.
We have just stopped at the historic La Leona roadhouse: very exciting for me as I read all about this in Bruce Chatwin's book "Patagonia" before leaving home. This is where Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid 'holed up' here after robbing the Bank of London in Rio Gallegos in 1905; they were shot dead in Bolivia after being on the run for 3 years. Other fugitives hid here too: some successfully; some not. It has also been the stopping-off place for many well-known climbers before embarking on their climbing excursions to the surrounding peaks, including the legendary Mount FitzRoy.
Very impressive entry to the National Park here at El Chaltén. The bus waits while the passengers go into the Park HQ where they are divided into 2 groups: Spanish-speaking or English; you get a quick & informative talk about the park & the walks.
El Chaltén is a small and picturesque village at the foot of Mt. FitzRoy & the Cerro Torre massif. We were picked up by Sebastián at the bus station and after a bumpy drive of about half an hour, we arrived at our divine hostería (B&B) at El Pilar. We are a LONG way from anything here: in the wilds of the mountains.
Our room was toasty warm but nevertheless we ventured out to do a walk towards Laguna de los Tres. It was a lovely walk through alpine beech forest with lots of flowers & birds (I sighted my first ever woodpecker, Carpintero gigante, which was very exciting!!).
We firstly followed a stream but then climbed up to a great view of a glacier; there were many lovely flowers in the open meadow at the level we reached; many beautiful colours. At this point we reached Poincenot campsite, the base point for many of the serious climbers.
From here, a steep 1-hour trail leads you to one of the most spectacular viewpoints of the National Park: Laguna de Los Tres; but we did not proceed beyond the camp site as the weather was setting in with large flakes of snow falling.
I thought my eyes were playing tricks when out of the snow emerged two men accompanied by white llamas. They passed quickly, the men with their heads down against the wind & on a mission to reach whatever was their destination.
We pressed on too; by the time we returned, it was getting darker - about 16 kms walking in all, My Friend tells me.
Just had the most amazing meal at our hosteria: I had lamb for starters with polenta; then the most delicious grilled beef with lovely scalloped potatoes, then an almond parfait. With a bottle of cabernet sauvignan. Yummy! That'll be enough red meat for a while!
Off to bed. Forecast still for not so good weather tomorrow. Will work with the weather however.
Flaky wi-fi here.
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