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.

Sunset in El Calafate

I mentioned before our South B&B was adequate. While I wasn't a big fan of sleeping in taco folding bunk beds and having to beg housekeeping for clean towels, it was spacious and clean with responsive owners who were on site all day. I liked them- a brother and sister and their 5 or 6 curly haired dogs + occasionally appearing mother who parked herself in the restaurant every afternoon. I appreciated the pro-diversity acceptance badge of honor and their willingness to book us excursion reservations. Every morning we ate fresh baked white bread and coffee, and every evening Mark and I would scour their wifi to watch Brooklyn 99 on Netflix.  We even had a wide angle, spectacular view of Lago Argentino and town below every night. It was pleasant. Here are a few photos Mark took on a rare, windless sunset at 10:30pm. Was it worth our pricey single 5-sleeper room? I'll let you decide...

Laguna Nimez Ecological Reserve, El Calafate

In between epic trips to see glaciers and hike mountains, we countered with down time visiting playgrounds. Suddenly, foot dragging and energy loss from walking down the street (never mind hiking) would be replaced with hours of wind sprints and playground shenanigans. El Calafate was great for that- it has great, modern playgrounds with plenty of shade and choice of artillery: sticks/light sabers, sticks/guns, sticks/sonic screwdrivers.

We also took advantage of visiting a couple museums: El Centro de Interpretacion Historica Calafate, where tickets got us entry and a free yerba mate, plus a lesson on how to prepare and drink Argentina's favorite tea. The museum, though small, was packed with dinosaur bones and assorted fossils including a complete skeleton of everyone's favorite: the giant sloth. It also contained compelling stories of Aonikenk (Patagonian) Indians and the history that unfolded thereafter. We watched a video on glaciers before re-circling the museum for a 2nd and 3rd time listening Mark re-tell the stories of the dinosaurs for a 2nd and 3rd time.  Just to be thorough.

Deets was dying for more interactions with glaciers, so we hit up the Glaciarium, a luminous yet dark maze of sciency things about ice. Indeed, it was pretty cool. We could have paid the extra fee to enter the ice bar below but seeing as how I object to pretty much any bar with cover charges and wasn't feeling it for a 10:00am cocktail, we opted to play outside and attempt some family photos before the shuttle arrived. 

For sake of more outside play and education we visited the Laguna Nimez Ecological Reserve, home to more than 80 bird species. After paying the entry fee, it was only then that the employee informed me that between stations 8 and 9 it would be essential to remain silent so as not to spook the nesting falcons. Doing so could result in bird attacks. I don't care for birds. They kinda scare me with all their potential to peck and claw and attack- and here I was, willingly entering enemy territory with two time bombs. The falcons were very active: babies chirping like hell to get their breakfast and multiple sets of squawking parents were flying extremely low overhead. Perhaps the kids could sense my anxiety as I urged them to be absolutely quiet because they followed suit and we completed the circuit without major incident. For what it's worth, the Reserve really delivered. We saw a mess of different birds including ducks, geese, ibises, and flamingoes. To my pleasure, most of them were far away and totally uninterested. 

The kids fully in charge.

Laguna Nimez Nature Reserve

These guys weren't messing around.

Swooping in for its kill.

Black faced Ibis: Argentina's squirrel.
They were everywhere.

Yellow Billed Pintails.

Perito Moreno Glacier

Before our arrival to El Calafate, the only research I did was to secure a B&B for the week and vaguely remembered this was a hot spot for glacier viewing. So when we descended into the airport, I peered out the window to see an endless spread of 50 shades of tan. No trees, no grass- only dry shrubby terrain of plains and hills. We could easily have been in Wyoming. It was strikingly gorgeous. Then the airplane window offered a view of Lago Argentino: the biggest freshwater lake in Argentina born from glacier melt. It was the color of aquamarine and emerald jewels and the perfect HQ to Patagonian wilderness.

We loved the town immediately. It gave a laid back vibe of hippies and unfazed locals who didn't bat an eye with the hoards of inspired hikers arriving from all ends of the earth. After checking into our adequate South B&B we headed to dinner where I finally could gorge myself on carrot sticks. I know it's not a dream for everyone, but I'd been missing some vegetables in a major way. All week we ate salads, trout dishes, and lentil stews- for a price due to high season, but at least we knew it would be good.

With full bellies we moved onto planning our visit to see the famous Perito Moreno Glacier in the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares. A tour bus charged around 120 USD per person, a rental car would cost around 220 USD per day but you needed more than 24 hours notice. However a taxi driver/guide would cost around 175 USD for the day for all four of us. Needless to say we didn't think too hard on the math and booked ourselves a private guide. He didn't speak English and we didn't speak much Spanish, but we understood enough to appreciate the scenery he described and especially appreciated his knowledge of the roads.

It took about 45 minutes after driving into the park to get to our first glacier overlook and we were not to be disappointed. 250 square km of sky blue ice, the world's 3rd largest reserve of freshwater and we could hear the crowds literally crooning over its beauty. I myself would have cheered if it weren't for my dismal clothing choice. The weather in El Calafate, 48 miles away had been cloudless and windless. In the park, it was humidly cold and raining. My jeans and tennis shoes did nothing against the biting wind. The kids were appropriately dressed but of course Margo picked up my distress and decided she was much too cold as well. She opted to harass the guide in the warm car while we ran around the overlooks like yetis, taking pictures of the looming fog. We drove down to the shore where you can pay for an hour long boat trip for a closer look from below... we waited in line to board, pretending the rain didn't matter. While I enjoyed this boat trip in general, I was not impressed with the pushy, elbowing crowd jockeying for their spots to take prime photos- particularly when my kids' safety is involved. I kept calm but that was probably because my hands were frozen stiff. 

Floating from one edge of the lake to the other, we saw giant pieces of ice break off and crash into the water and we enviously watched day-trekkers explore the glacier. (This had been a trip in consideration for at least Mark and Deets but they have an age restriction: no kids younger than 10 and NO exceptions.) After 50 minutes of molecular drifting, it was time to return for the next batch of tourists. Piling back into the taxi, I thought our day was completed. But apparently the park saves the best for last: the catwalk. About 1.6km long, the catwalk/maze has thousands of steps ascending and descending the adjacent mountain for unobstructed views of Perito Moreno, both the north and south side. 

I'm not going to lie. It continued to be windy as hell and downright miserable. I nearly gave up in defeat after our first descent, but realizing this trip was once in a lifetime, continued on. Well the gods must have been happy because at all once the wind stopped and the clouds scattered. No more forced appreciation!  I was no longer cold and I could actually enjoy myself. Margo agreed with me despite slipping on the metal grates, cracking her knees a few times but we covered the entire catwalk and returned to the top just in time for the rain to fall again. Soaked and exhausted, we piled into the taxi for an uneventful ride home...

El Calafate from the airplane.

Lago Argentino, El Calafate

First glimpse of Perito Merino.

The Royal Freezing Princess Margo on the boat.

Red, white, and blue.

Stupid smug glacier trekkers.

The Motherfu*@ing Catwalk!

Owning the stairs.

Mossy only growing on the glacier exposed side.

Perito Moreno: north side.

South side.

 Ghoulish Glacier Dragon-Monster.