Southern Exposure

Tuesday, March 24

We slept in until 9:30 am, and after the usual breakfast of bread, jam and coffee hit the road. The black cat came by to wish us bon viaje and was rewarded with left over chicken milanesa we specifically saved for him from last night’s dinner.

We were recommended by a few people to visit the town of El Chalten, just 80 km from Tres Lagos, that is a base for exploring the Fitz Roy mountain and its vicinities. We were hesitant to spend the night there feeling the pressure of reaching Ushuaia as soon as possible, and almost decided to skip it altogether. But after an attendant at the gas station outside Tres Lagos once again advertised it to us as a place not to be missed, we changed our mind and decided to detour there in the afternoon and then ride to El Calafate for the night.

The road south from Tres Lagos was paved and stretched along Lake Viedma, which occasionally glimmered with nice blue colors peeking through the heavy overcast. A cool glacier was overflowing its massive ice blue arm into the western end of the lake.

Without much effort we reached the town of El Chalten which was surrounded by the mountains and had a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere, with a friendly mix of locals and outdoor loving tourists.

We had two options for the afternoon, either do a short hike to Fitz Roy or ride to Lago Desierto at the end of the road through the park. Because of the thick clouds covering the mountains and our inability to leave the bikes unattended we decided to do the ride to the lake, hoping to catch a glimpse of the mountain along the way.

We rode into the park and started out on a 35 km dirt track riding along a river flood plain set against a mountain ridge to the east with occasional views of Fitz Roy glaciers to the west. We then rode into a forest, which was a nice change from the never ending open space pampas we have been seeing for the last few days.

A ride along a beautiful clear blue stream finally lead us to the end of the road, and a nice lookout point over the lake. We met our Carretera Austral hitchhiker friend again who mysteriously always manages to get to the destination ahead of us without having his own transport. We chatted briefly, then took a short walk to the peer and climbed up the hill to the lookout among short crimped trees. We felt compelled to get back on the bikes to start heading back because the cold air was getting under our skin.

The skies were clearing ahead of us, but Fitz Roy was still hidden in the blanket of clouds. The mountain ridge to the east however had a pretty lustrous glow and we even spotted a rainbow projected on the rocks.

We filled up on gas in El Chaiten and set out to El Calafate, riding again along Lago Viedma, enjoying the paved road. It turned to dirt for a short while, but soon thereafter we were rewarded with pavement and steady winds from the west. We ascended to a lookout over the valley below and I pulled off the road to take a picture. Before I knew it I was on the ground with the poor bike fallen on its right side. A gust of wind had unfortunate timing.

We entered El Calafate around 8 pm and checked out a number of hotels, looking for one with wi-fi before settling on a great value hostel off the main steet. I felt cold and unpleasant from the day’s ride, so my first order of business was a shower. Matt was sweet enough to go out in the rain and get us a pizza to eat in the room. After dinner Matt worked on the blog and I studied the travel book trying to figure out our plan for visiting the Perito Moreno Glacier tomorrow.