Laguna Capri - El Chalten, Argentina

Part of me wants to die when Mark suggests we take the kids hiking. The whining. The dusty slowness. The whining. The non-stop coaxing session. The whining. Then there's dealing with the kids.  However the other part of me never fails to be impressed by his unfaltering confidence that we can easily accomplish these goals, and I guess we did travel all the way down here to hike a few mountains.

A gorgeous 2 hour drive from El Calafate on Highway 40, Argentina's Route 66, is a burgeoning town named El Chaltén, "The Smoking Mountain" and is an outdoorsy haven. In fact, Lonely Planet 2015 named it as a "city to know" in the world and with good reason: the mountains are super gorgeous with glaciers, waterfalls, and a mess of hikes for all abilities and motivations. The town is adorable with breweries, ice cream stores and artisanal shops. It's a mini El Calafate but with a much smaller flux of tourists. 

Mark had his sights set on a 4km hike to Laguna Capri, about two hours up. We started at 12:30 with plans to picnic at the lake before meeting our taxi by 5pm. The driver and trail volunteer both wished us luck with a dash of arrogance that we'd be unsuccessful in our time frame.  Unfazed, up we went. Sure, we had a few deep breath moments, but overall the hike was enjoyable with a few steep climbs and uncomfortably dusty walks through the meadows. Mark was 100% right. After calming Deets' fear that our picnic would roll in the sparkling cerulean lake, we sat down to enjoy the view. We even had enough time to share a bottle of wine and laugh at half-naked hikers try to bathe themselves while ruining everyone's photo ops.  Refreshed and full, back down we went, arriving at precisely 4:50pm. 

Our driver was gracious enough to drive us to a brewery for celebratory drinks and ice cream, and to the Rio de las Vueltas to soak our crusty feet. Tossing our clothes, boots and backpacks in the trunk we headed out. On the way we saw several herds of guanacos (red furred llamas) which completed our hopes for the day. We arrived to my favorite restaurant Viva la Pepa for another round of carrots, beer, and lentil stew at 8:30pm for another late dinner. He pulled right in front, humored onlookers watched us unload the trunk like a group of hitchhikers. To my surprise, the kids literally ran back up the hill to our B&B after dinner, before crashing into bed. It was a very good day. 

Views along the famous Highway 40

Laguna Capri- the guidebooks say 4 hours round trip,
I'm assuming they mean 4 hours
 for people using an ankle boot and neck brace.

Above Laguna Capri

Fitz Roy Peaks- where only well equipped
experts are allowed to climb it- people
who say funny things like "crampons."

Doesn't even do justice of the amount of dirt they collected.

Success!

Guanacos apparently are very camera shy.
Or perhaps scared of squealing children.