El Chalten, Argentina
Internet is not good at our hostel, so I’m backlogged a few days.
Today’s forecast was for rain to begin in the afternoon so that combined with tired legs from our big hike yesterday dictated an early, short hike today. We were pleasantly surprised by great views of Fitz Roy right from town.
We headed to the south end of town to the Los Condores and Las Águilas viewpoints. We saw neither condors nor eagles, but we did have great views of both Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre. There were clouds further behind them, but beautiful views of the mountains closest to us.
Perspective is an interesting thing..... In the park visitor centre they had 3D scale models of much of the area. The ice field behind what we can see from ground level is massive! I’ve seen it called both The South Continental Ice Field and the Southern Patagonian Ice Field. By either name it is apparently the world’s second largest contiguous non-polar ice field. Who knew that the largest one is in Canada? Not me. In the Yukon, apparently. Post-script..... apparently I've seen it on the Tatshenshini raft trip that I did in 2012.
From the top of our walk today we could also see south to Lake Viedma - a huge body of water formed, undoubtedly, by water from the Viedma Glacier (one arm of the massive ice field).
It was pretty darned windy out there today. I was in shorts again, and with the wind forecast for the next 2 days, I may have to switch to long pants. I developed a nasty heat rash on our last day in BA, so I’ve been trying not to overheat it again under long pants, but it might be time...... Here's Joan trying to hold her ground in the wind.
On the way back through town I stopped and looked in all the shops, but knowing that I have to carry any souvenirs for another month in my backpack limits my desire to purchase anything. A few bookmarks will have to do.
The rest of the rather cool and windy afternoon was spent lazing about the hostel and trying to get on the internet (without success). I finally went over to a nearby restaurant and used their wifi. Everyone else is napping right now. Maybe I’ll join them.....
We headed to the south end of town to the Los Condores and Las Águilas viewpoints. We saw neither condors nor eagles, but we did have great views of both Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre. There were clouds further behind them, but beautiful views of the mountains closest to us.
Perspective is an interesting thing..... In the park visitor centre they had 3D scale models of much of the area. The ice field behind what we can see from ground level is massive! I’ve seen it called both The South Continental Ice Field and the Southern Patagonian Ice Field. By either name it is apparently the world’s second largest contiguous non-polar ice field. Who knew that the largest one is in Canada? Not me. In the Yukon, apparently. Post-script..... apparently I've seen it on the Tatshenshini raft trip that I did in 2012.
From the top of our walk today we could also see south to Lake Viedma - a huge body of water formed, undoubtedly, by water from the Viedma Glacier (one arm of the massive ice field).
It was pretty darned windy out there today. I was in shorts again, and with the wind forecast for the next 2 days, I may have to switch to long pants. I developed a nasty heat rash on our last day in BA, so I’ve been trying not to overheat it again under long pants, but it might be time...... Here's Joan trying to hold her ground in the wind.
On the way back through town I stopped and looked in all the shops, but knowing that I have to carry any souvenirs for another month in my backpack limits my desire to purchase anything. A few bookmarks will have to do.
The rest of the rather cool and windy afternoon was spent lazing about the hostel and trying to get on the internet (without success). I finally went over to a nearby restaurant and used their wifi. Everyone else is napping right now. Maybe I’ll join them.....
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