Patagonia (Argentina and Chile)

WARNING: Long post ahead! Also, sorry for the major delay on this post – it took a Herculean effort to go through hundreds of Patagonia pictures.

At the beginning of January we took our first full week off from work and spent it exploring both Argentinian and Chilean Patagonia. It’s definitely hard to do Patagonia justice, but we will try! Patagonia was certainly a trip highlight for us and exceeded expectations. Davy’s brother Michael also joined us for the entire week which was an added bonus. We started our journey by flying approximately 3 hours from Santiago to Punta Arenas, Chile (the southernmost city of our Patagonian journey).

We spent one night in Punta Arenas then woke up at the crack of dawn the following day to go on a much anticipated penguin tour. We took a boat through the Strait of Magellan to Isla Magdalena, home to Chile’s national penguin reserve and thousands of penguins. As many of you know, Shari is freakishly obsessed with penguins so the idea of going to an island filled with penguins seemed too good to be true…BUT IT WASN’T. The island was amazing and had tons of penguins and birds everywhere. We were able to get extremely close to the penguins, and sometimes they would cross the path we were walking on. They really seemed to pay no mind to the thirty humans walking around in silly life jackets.

Getting pumped up for penguins while roasting and toasting in all our layers on the boat to the island
PURE BLISS
Burrowing penguins (we too were amazed that these penguins could make these little homes)
Be still my heart
Adios pinguinos!

We finished our tour around noon, packed up the car, and hit the road to drive to El Calafate, Argentina (one of our longest drives of the trip). The drive included a border crossing which was basically a huge embarrassment for numerous reasons: 1) we initially tried to enter Argentina without formally exiting Chile 2) we had thrown away a small slip of paper that was given to us when we entered Chile, and apparently this was a visa (to be fair, no one said anything about it being important!!!), and 3) our car alarm went off when we were finally about to complete the process and drive into Argentina (a kind border security guard helped us turn off the alarm once he realized that we couldn’t figure it out. He also laughed at Shari when she got so flustered that she closed the car door with her hair in it). Clearly we have learned a lot during our first three months of travel and are basically professional travelers.

We finally made it to El Calafate, checked into our Airbnb, and headed downtown for some dinner. El Calafate has a surprisingly bustling downtown with lots of restaurants and shops. We celebrated our return to Argentina with much meat and malbec wine of course. The following morning we drove about an hour to Parque Nacional Los Glaciares to visit Perrito Moreno glacier, a massive and beautiful glacier. The glacier is 97 square miles, 19 miles long, and a couple hundred feet tall on average. We went on a full day glacier hike which included a nice boat ride with great glacier views, a short hike through the forest to the edge of the glacier, and a 2-3 hour hike on the glacier. The glacier was incredibly beautiful, and it was also really interesting to learn more about it. We were all expecting the glacier to be retreating, but it’s actually unique in that it’s advancing. It also moves a couple feet per day, particularly in the middle, so we couldn’t go too close to that area.

View from the boat
Another group of glacier hikers
Modeling the latest glacier fashion
TASTY GLACIER LUNCH

The glacier is really the main attraction in El Calafate, so the following day we drove just a few hours away to the beautiful town of El Chalten (also in Argentina). El Chalten is smaller than El Calafate and is incredibly scenic given that it’s right at the foot of the mountains. It also has a cute downtown with some nice restaurants, and we enjoyed sitting outside and having a beer or a snack after long days of hiking (assuming the sun was still out and we were wearing enough layers). We stayed at a very small guesthouse (only four rooms) run by a very sweet couple, Daniel and Virginia. They were very nice and very much saved us by exchanging our Chilean pesos for Argentine pesos when we realized that the only ATM in town was out of cash and many restaurants were cash only (yes we were warned of this but clearly failed to listen – professional traveler status solidified).

Welcoming ourselves back to Argentina with more meat
Yes, these chairs were as uncomfortable as they look
First views of El Chalten from the drive

We arrived in El Chalten around midday and spent the afternoon going on a longish (12 miles) but flat hike to Laguna Torre, a nice glacial lake. We tried to have some lunch at the lake but quickly became quite chilly (not surprising for a glacial lake) and made our way back after not too long.

Views of El Chalten from the start of the hike
Unfortunately this is the only picture we have from the lake at the end of the hike

The following day we went on a hike to Cerro (Mount) Fitz Roy and Laguna de los Tres, which is certainly the most famous hike in El Chalten and probably one of the most famous hikes in Patagonia (the outline of Cerro Fitz Roy is the inspiration for the Patagonia label). The hike took all day and was beautiful from start to finish. It was definitely a highlight of the trip and one of the most beautiful hikes we’ve been on. While you get the best view of Fitz Roy at the end of the hike, we had a nice peek midway through. The last 45 minutes of the hike were fairly steep and definitely the most challenging part, but it made the view when we got to the top all the more incredible. When we got to the top, we spent a decent amount of time taking in the view, eating lunch next to the glacial lake (we were smart and rented gloves this time), and exploring the area (there are a few different lookout points and another bright blue lake as well).

Shari’s hiking poles’ grand debut
Starting off strong
First peek of Fitz Roy
Around the middle of the hike
The very last section before getting to the top – you can see Shari’s professional hiking skillz if you look closely
First close up views of Fitz Roy and Laguna de los Tres
The best tasty sandwich pic there ever was
Another beautiful lake at the top

On the way back down it started to rain/hail/snow, and the sky became gray and spooky, but it didn’t last very long. We opted to take an alternative route home through the forest, which was nice since there were way less people and some nice new scenery.

The brief but exciting storm

On our last day in El Chalten we drove about 45 minutes to an area called Lago Desierto. We went on a short hike to the Huemel Glacier, which is a stunning glacier with another beautiful teal glacial lake. There were surprisingly very few people here, perhaps because it’s one of the few hikes in the area that you actually have to drive to. We spent a while exploring the area by the glacier then hiked back and went to another large lake that’s also in the same area. The lake is huge and would take hours to get to the other end, so Michael and Shari napped on a sunny beach by the lake while Davy went for a little jog.

Huemel Glacier and Lake
Shari and Michael snoozin’ by the lake

The following day it was time to say adios to Argentina and go for another fairly long drive back to Chile. This time our border crossing went swimmingly, and we even got a smile from the Chilean border agent as we ate an entire pack of salami that we were not allowed to bring back into Chile. For our last two nights in Patagonia, we stayed at a very nice and beautiful hotel which was definitely our nicest accommodation of the week. We arrived in the late afternoon and enjoyed playing games, relaxing, and eating a nice dinner at the hotel.

The following day was Davy’s birthday and our last full day in Patagonia. We drove one hour to Torres del Paine National Park to go on a day hike. Torres del Paine is extremely beautiful but is also very popular, particularly in January. There are a few multi-day hikes you can do in the park, but we opted to just do a day hike due to time constraints, cost, and what we read about there being a lot of people. We did the hike to the base of the towers, which is one of the most popular hikes given that it’s accessible as a day trip. The hike is 11 miles in total and fairly similar to the Fitz Roy hike in that the last 45 minutes or so is by far the steepest. At the top are beautiful granite mastiffs overlooking a teal blue glacial lake. The view from the top was stunning, and (unlike the Fitz Roy hike), we didn’t get much of a peek of it until we got to the very end. We had a very chilly and windy lunch at the top before making our way down. Similar to the Fitz Roy hike, it also started precipitating on the way back down. Fortunately it wasn’t that bad for us, but we could see it looking more ominous behind us as we were hiking and were glad to have finished when we did.

Views of the trail after the first ascent
Ta da!
Los hermanos
V chilly but happy
Views of the park on the way back

After the hike, we went back to our hotel for a nice birthday dinner. The staff brought Davy some cake, sang “Feliz Cumpleanos” (Happy Birthday), and gave him some kissy face balloons.

Feliz cumpleanos!

On our last day in Patagonia, we checked out of our hotel and drove to the nearby Cave of the Milodon. The area has a large cave where remains of the extinct milodon were found, so there is now a giant replica of this sloth-like animal at the entrance of the cave (it is not a mummified milodon, as Shari was hoping). There was also a lot of information about the way in which the cave was formed and what sort of life existed there thousands of years ago. After exploring the cave, we had a yummy pizza lunch in the nearby town of Puerto Natales before continuing our drive back to Punta Arenas. We stopped at a local pub in downtown Punta Arenas, dropped Michael off at his Airbnb (he stayed two days longer), and headed to the airport for our long journey to Colombia!