Tiff & Jared's adventures

Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful.

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

El Chaltén

February 17th

We arrived to town in the early evening, immediately sensing we were entering a community of fellow trekkers, adventure seekers and outdoor lovers. El Chaltén is a no-frills, laid back town set in the heart of Los Glaciares National Park. One aspect so unique about the town is that many of the hiking trails can be accessed on foot, meaning you don’t have to drive to the trailheads. For both of the hikes we did during our stay here, we were able to wake up and walk directly to the trailhead base – so cool!

Our Airbnb was located on the hill above town, where we were about a ten-minute walk away from all of the restaurants and shops (albeit scarce, which I appreciated that there wasn’t a souvenir shop on every block). We dropped our belongings off and headed to Cerveceria Chaltén, hoping to get a spot for dinner around 6 (dinner reservations highly recommended during peak season). Unfortunately they weren’t accepting walk-ins but we were able to get two pints and sit out in their beer garden while googling a dinner spot.

We walked to a few places before finding one with a reasonable wait time called La Tapera. It was in an old, rustic cabin which brought me back to some places we’d eaten at in Europe – the restaurant had dozens of license plates adorning their walls and we saw some from Virginia and Colorado! We ended up ordering guanaco lasagna and locally-caught Patagonian trout agnolotti pasta to share. The food was tasty and deliciously rich, which ultimately didn’t settle within our stomachs (we had gastro issues off and on our whole stay here). Karma for eating a guanaco I guess!

February 18th

Between our upset stomachs and loud winds throughout the night (the house was constructed of metal and the winds echoed as if we were in a hurricane), I wasn’t feeling up to sticking to our original hiking plan for the day. We pivoted to Laguna Torre, whose trailhead base was a short two blocks’ walk from our Airbnb. We started around 7AM to avoid the trail fees (new starting October 2024), and began the ascent.

• Laguna Torre: Total distance (18 kilometers), total ascent (500 meters/~1700 feet), difficulty (moderate)

The initial ascent was a grind and I was feeling less than optimal. However, as we continued the trek, we started to feel a little better. We couldn’t have asked for better weather on the hike, and we even met a lovely couple from Texas along the trail (shoutout to Michelle for the pepto). Also shoutout to El Chaltén for having bathrooms along their trails. We summited the top in good time, beating the majority of crowds we’d see fill in later. Amidst the solitude, we took our time playing in the water and breathing in the ~cool~ scenery, including bits of glacier broken off into the lake. Then, after a lengthy break, Jared and I continued onward and upward to get a better vantage point of the glacier. We found a good stopping point for lunch, and nestled up between some rocks, we made our sandwiches – tuna and PB&J (separate of course). Refueled and realizing the clouds weren’t going to part in a most magnificent way to display the full peaks, we began the descent back to town.

Arriving back by early afternoon, we showered and walked around town for a bit. I stumbled upon this natural food grocer (Puentes Amarillos Tienda Natural) and it was the first place I’d seen kombucha in South America so you can bet we got some of that for our gut health, along with some other healthy snackies.

By 6PM, we had dinner reservations at The Asadores, a well-recommended and well-reviewed restaurant where everything was cooked by open flame (we had a perfect view into the kitchen!). This was a prix fixe menu and the portions were absolutely ginormous! Never mind that we hiked fourteen miles – the sheer quantity of food was too much for us to handle.

• First course: consisted of a guanaco empanada as well as a black bean and sprouts bruschetta
• Second course: consisted of a) spread of sausages and fried intestines, grilled pumpkin with picked onions and grilled provoleta
• Third course: consisted of a huge and healthy shared salad (needed some greens and veggies)
• Fourth course: the crème de la crop – steaks with potatoes au gratin
• Fifth course: consisted of glasses of champagne and a chocolate ganache, along with a lemon foam

As of the food wasn’t enough of a treat, we got the privilege of being serenaded by an Argentinian traditional folk band called La Siempre Alegre. They played three songs (standing right behind Jared) before heading off to other restaurants in El Chaltén. What a lovely experience. We simply couldn’t finish all the food and took the leftovers for food the next day. All of the staff was so nice too and humoring me with my broken Spanish – great experience!

February 19th

Coming off of a better night’s sleep, we left the airbnb around 6:30AM to avoid the ticket counter. For hikes like today, and generally when I know I’m going to get my ass handed to me, it’s better for me to not really think about it or else I’ll get in my head.

• Laguna de Los Tres: Total distance (28 kilometers or approx. 17 miles), total ascent (3400 feet), difficulty (hard)

There was a steady migration of trekkers beginning the ascent around the same time, all undoubtedly starting early to avoid the $45 fee as well as additional crowding later in the day. Now, I consider myself in fair shape but was floored by the melting pot of trekkers we saw on the hike, spanning ages, languages, physical fitness and apparel (yes I’m talking to you lady in designer T-shirt). It was comforting knowing that across all the differences, we were all here to share in a transcendental experience together, and this provided me with comfort as I heaved my way up the ascent.

The terrain of the hike was surreal – after the initial steep summit, the crowd weaned out and we were able to find a calm spot by Laguna Capri for breakfast, just as the sky graced us with a partial rainbow next to the peaks in the distance. Que bueno suerte! Throughout the entirety of the route, we kept getting glimpses of the three towers, acting as a lighthouse and guiding us closer and closer. We passed through a southern beech forest, followed a pristine glacially-fed river, and ultimately summited a strenuous 1,000 foot climb up over 1,000 meter slope before nearing the top.

After a false summit and a very real final climb, we’d made it! I think my jaw actually dropped and I whispered “wow” as my eyes fully absorbed everything I was looking at – we were blessed with a perfect day of weather with blue skies and sun, and the three peaks (Cerro Fitzroy (3,405m), Cerro Torre (3,128m), and Poincenot (2,558m)) stood tall ahead of us.

There were huge groups of people claiming spots on the summit, and we decided to continue hiking away from the crowds and find a spot of solitude for lunch. To the left of the initial summit, there was another hill where after a 5 minute ascent, we were met with probably the most breathtaking view we’d ever seen in our lives. To the right, we saw the initial lake, what everyone else saw when they reached the summit. But on the left was Laguna Sucia, even more stunning as it sat more tucked away, being fed by various waterfalls from the glaciers high above. At some points, we even saw small pieces of the glaciers breaking away and fading into the lake below. Perhaps the best part was that there was almost no one else up where we were, so we had these extraordinary views all to ourselves.

Fun fact: the guy that took this picture was from Lafayette, CO, quite close to us!

Perching ourselves along some rocks, we made our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches while mentally taking a picture of everything we were looking at. After taking a bunch of actual pictures and getting our last views in, we started the descent as we had quite the hike back to town.

After a few quick breaks, including resting by the river and dipping our toes in, we hauled our way back to town. I have no idea how to explain how after multiple days of stomach issues and suboptimal sleep, I felt so energetic as we wrapped up the 17 mile day – I must have been fueled by the adrenaline of the hike.

We made it back to town around 5PM and immediately sought out some carbs – about half a km from the trailhead, we went to La Lomiteria and got a delicious beef sandwich with onions, mushrooms, lettuce tomato and cheese. Wanting to be in a horizontal position as quickly as possible, we brought the sandwich back to the Airbnb and scarfed it down before finally getting to lay down.

Somehow still on a rush, or maybe just past the point of exhaustion, I dragged Jared to town for food and some shopping. One thing I’d been looking for was a mate to drink Yerba mate tea (a mate is traditionally made from a hollowed-out gourd, but there are a variety of types now including aluminum or porcelain). This is the Argentinian social practice of sharing tea with one another out of a single mate, while drinking through the “bombilla” or metal straw, and this practice signifies hospitality and community.

After some souvenir shopping, as well as bopping around several pastry shops for alfajores (traditional sweet pastry made of two cookies and dulce de leche in between – the best IMO was Chalteños, Alfajores Y Dulces Artesanales), we grabbed one more sandwich for dinner and called it a night.

February 20th

Thursday – the day of rest. On our last day in El Chaltén, we afforded ourselves the luxury of sleeping in until 8:30 after a grueling two days of 30+ miles of hiking. We had a nice, slow morning in the Airbnb before packing up our car, grabbing some coffee, water and bread in town, and heading on our next part of Patagonia – Torres del Paine (by way of Puerto Natales).