Patagonia I — Punta Arenas and El Chalten
We travel to Patagonia for three weeks of backpacking and climbing.
Traveling to Patagonia has been at the top of my bucket list ever since our first trip to Chile. I promised myself that someday I would go. That someday turned out to be a lot sooner than I imagined.
California to Punta Arenas
After spending 2 days inside of various airports and airplanes we finally arrived in Punta Arenas. We were exhausted and completely sick of airplane food. After a comical episode at the hostel involving Google translate we set out on a mission to fill our bellies and go to bed. We eventually settled on pizza.
Punta Arenas — Magdalena Island
On this day we had to accomplish two very important tasks. Book our bus tickets to Puerto Natales and see the Magellanic penguins on Magdalena Island.
Punta Arenas is small so it was easy to find a bus company. There are several bus companies but we just went with Big-Sur. We booked our tickets to Puerto Natales for noon the next day.
After that we found the COMPA office and booked a penguin tour. COMPA seemed the safest since they use a large ship. According to TripAdvisor other companies use smaller boats and the ride can be extremely rocky due to the winds. It’s also 3 hours to and from the island so we wanted to have the smoothest ride possible.
The ship left on time and when we arrived at the island, there were penguins everywhere. According to the guide there were about 100,000 penguins.
It was also very cold and windy. I had heard about the powerful winds but experiencing it first hand was unreal.
The return trip was not as pleasant. The ship was rolling from side to side for 3 straight hours. Tomomi threw up a few times in the bathroom. We were incredibly relieved to be on flat land after that experience.
Once we got back to town we decided to split a Lomito for dinner. Lomito is a classic Chilean sandwich. It’s probably the biggest sandwich you’ll ever eat.
Punta Arenas to Puerto Natales
Conveniently, all the bus companies are inside of the Puerto Natales bus station. Once we arrived in Puerto Natales we booked our tickets to El Calafate for the following day.
We then walked towards the city center looking for a hostel. The first place we found was Hostel Estrellita Del Sur. The owner was very nice and offered us a private room for really cheap, which was about $30–40 USD. We checked out the room and decided to spend the night.
There was also a communal kitchen so we picked up some groceries and cooked dinner.
That night was very cold because the room didn’t have a heater. The only heater was in the hallway. We had to put on our base layers and jackets to sleep comfortably.
When we woke up the next day it was raining like crazy. But by the time we finished our complimentary breakfast the sky started to clear. We walked to the bus station and left for El Calafate.
Puerto Natales to El Calafate
The bus ride from Puerto Natales to El Calafate was about 5 hours long and about half way in, just as we’re about to cross the Chilean-Argentinian border, the bus administrator asks me for some paperwork. I don’t speak Spanish and he doesn’t speak English. Everyone is confused.
Luckily, there was an American on board who could translate. The bus administrator was asking for paperwork proving that I had paid the reciprocity fee of $160 USD required for all US citizens entering Argentina. This fee could only be paid online and here I was on a bus in the middle of nowhere.
And when the American started telling me that I might have to hitchhike back to Puerto Natales I started to panic. We were already half way to El Calafate and the thought of getting left at the border to hitchhike back was too much.
After some discussion with the bus driver the American said that there might be a computer at the souvenir store next to the border crossing that I could use to pay the fee.
We pull into the border crossing and the bus administrator takes me to the souvenir store. In the back is an old Windows computer with a Spanish keyboard.
I start to freak out because I can’t Google it fast enough so I get the American to help me find the correct website. We find the website but now I’m having trouble entering my email address. I can’t find the ampersand key on this Spanish keyboard so I copy paste that single character. My first payment attempt fails because of Internet Explorer. I switch to Google Chrome, it goes through, I print out the document and I am beyond relieved.
The most ridiculous part of this whole escapade was that the border agent only glanced at the print out for less than a second.
El Calafate to El Chalten
The trip from El Calafate to El Chalten was a lovely 3 hour bus ride. The landscape was everything I had hoped for and more. During that bus ride is when I truly felt like I had arrived in Patagonia.
After picking up gas and groceries in El Chalten we walked to the trailhead and started hiking towards Laguna Torre to Camp Agostini where we would camp that night.
Cerro Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre Trails — Day 1
Our first goal was to make it to Camp Agostini by evening so we could check out the Laguna Torre. It was a 9.5 km (5.9 mi) hike at an altitude of 630 m (2066 ft) and our packs weighed approx. 20 lbs each.
The first half of the hike was moderately steep and the sun was strong. At the halfway point the weather turned and it began to snow.
Camp Agostini sat next to a stream and was well protected by trees. When we arrived at around 5 pm there were several tents and people had started cooking. We pitched our tent and walked to the Laguna Torre to see the glacier. When we arrived there was no one around. It was just us.
Once we got back to the campsite we filtered water from the stream and set up our Jetboil. It was starting to get cold and we were hungry. Unbelievably the Jetboil igniter completely failed on us. We didn’t have any matches but we did have a magnesium flint fire starter. Imagine Tomomi slowly turning on the gas as I’m hunched over attempting to aim sparks at the igniter.
Cerro Fitzroy and Cerro Torre Trails — Day 2
We were shivering when we woke up and our campsite was covered in a thin layer of snow. We should have brought a 4-season tent. We were cold and tired and it took us a long time to break down camp.
That day we hiked 10 km (6.2 mi) at an altitude of 750 m (2,460 ft). The first half was steep and continuous. We followed a trail through the woods and over several ridges. The second half was flat and easy.
That night we had pasta with tomato sauce for dinner. Our technique had improved and we were able to light the Jetboil quickly. The Jetboil retains heat very well. Once we got the water boiling we were able to turn off the gas and the pasta would cook without additional fire.
Cerro Fitzroy and Cerro Torre Trails — Day 3
On this day the weather started to get better. The skies were beginning to clear up and we could almost see the Fitz Roy range from camp.
We planned to make a day trip to the Laguna de Los Tres so we left our packs at camp. The hike was only 5 km (3.1 mi) but had an elevation gain of 1200 m (3,937 f). It was a brutal 3 hour scramble that destroyed us both. There was even a sign at the trailhead warning people who were not fit to turn around.
At the summit we could see the Fitz Roy range and the town of El Chalten.
On the hike back to Camp Poincenot we found a perfectly clear stream and filled our water bottles. Never in my life have I ever seen clearer water. It was incredible being able to safely drink water from a natural stream.
Back at camp the clouds had fully retreated giving us a perfect view of the Fitz Roy range.
In the afternoon we made a short trip to the Laguna Piedras Blancas to see the Glaciar Piedras Blancas.
Cerro Fitzroy and Cerro Torre Trails — Day 4
Each day we got a little more efficient at breaking down camp. We left Camp Poincenot at around 11 am to head back to El Chalten. The hike back went by quickly and we were back in El Chalten within 4 hours.
We checked into our hotel, Hotel El Alamo, and the first thing we did was take a shower because we were starting to smell bad. After that we found a nice restaurant, La Tapera, and enjoyed some classic Argentinian cuisine. I ordered locro which is a hearty stew and Tomomi ordered a steak.
La Senyera Cocina Argentina
El Chalten
We stayed at Hotel El Alamo for 4 nights and enjoyed all the amenities that El Chalten had to offer. The bouldering and sport climbing is excellent. We are currently working on a separate blog post detailing our climbing.
There are numerous restaurants and cafes. My favorite restaurant was La Tapera. It was the best meal I had while in Patagonia. My favorite cafe was La Chocolateria Josh Aike. It’s a climbers wet dream. The walls are covered in climbing gear and signed photos from famous alpinists such as Conrad Anker. On rainy days we would hang out there drinking hot chocolate and reading issues of Climbing magazine from the 90s.
La Chocolateria Josh Aike also had the best Alfajores de Chocolate. Alfajores de Chocolate is a chocolate covered cookie sandwich with dulce de leche in the middle. We made a point to seek them out in each place that we visited.
- La Chocolateria Josh Aike, El Chalten (*****)
- Dulce Lugar, El Calafate (*****)
- Chaltenos, El Chalten (****)
- Havana, Santiago Airport (***)
- Panaderia y Confiteria Don Luis, El Calafate (*)
After enjoying a day of bouldering, a day of sport climbing and a day of rest we boarded the bus back to El Calafate. From El Calafate we would travel back to Puerto Natales to tackle the “W” trail at the Torres Del Paine.
Beta
- You can book bus tickets a day or a few days in advance.
- Buses run unevenly so you can’t travel from Puerto Natales to El Calafate to El Chalten in one day.
- It’s cheaper to buy camping supplies in El Calafate or Puerto Natales.
- I can’t stress this enough. The weather in Patagonia is no joke. You have to be prepared for anything.
