day 8: era mi sueño

this was our last full day in el chaltén, and thankfully, it was beautiful. we awoke early and found that the weather prediction for this day was spot on: sunny, clear, and warm. we quickly got our stuff together and were out of the door before 9:30am to start our trek up to fitz roy. we hiked for a few minutes, then took a break to delayer. halfway through, we all had stripped down from several layers to just our baselayer..it was so nice out that i could have hiked in a t-shirt! we hiked up a mountain behind el chaltén and went around it to get to fitz roy. we were incredibly lucky that the day was so nice because hiking in the winter/spring in patagonia can be dangerous with all of the snow and melting ice that can cause the trails to wash out. it was also nice because it's pretty much impossible to even see fitz roy if there is any cloud cover. about 20 minutes in, cat spotted the tip of fitz roy behind some trees....it's literally right behind the town of chaltén! we hiked to a small lake (puddle, really) and then had lunch at the mirador that the park rangers had recommended when we first arrived in town. we hiked about an hour further because it was so nice out and sat at the intersection of the trail for half an hour, just enjoying the beautiful day. we all wanted to hike more, but were worried that the melting snow and warm temperatures were going to make the descent more difficult, so we turned around at the intersection. it also gets dark fast in el chaltén, and when the sun goes down, it gets chilly. we figured to be safe, instead of sorry.

winding around the moutain...with río fitz roy

the first spotting!

it was beautiful out!

still living like poor people

eating snow

on the way down, we saw this little guy

the way back down, with less snow

we stumbled down the rest of the mountain into a kiosk to buy chocolate because we had only had oatmeal (plain, yuck. also this was not "oatmeal". argentines use oatmeal primarily for the base of soups. gross), bread, cheese, and one avocado each. for 6 hours. needless to say, by the end, we were hungry. so we splurged and got some chocolate. we ate the rest of the soup that we had stretched for the past 2 other nights for dinner and went to bed early because we had an early bus out of el chaltén back to calafate and río the next day. from río, we were going to catch our andes mar bus (apparently the strike only lasted a few days) back to puerto madryn and then switch buses, and head back to mendoza, just in time for spanish class on monday morning.

cat and i stripped to change layers and decided it was warm enough to do a cliche sports bra pic...it really was that warm out!

before we fell asleep, we took a few minutes to reflect on how great our trip turned out. it was slightly hilarious because without knowing it, we had hit three of the biggest things in patagonia: puerto madryn and the peninsula (bri's choice), perito moreno (cat's choice), and fitz roy (my choice). it was awesome how everything worked out, even at some times when we didn't think they would. it was also incredible how the scheduling worked out. we had bought round trip tickets to puerto madryn, but that was it. everything else, we figured out along the way. i was so fortunate to travel with two girls who are as active and gung-ho about outdoorsy things as i am; and only having 3 of us was a blessing in disguise. it was so much easier to make decisions and get bus tickets with only 3 of us, compared the other ifsa kids who traveled in groups of 8 or 9. it was also way cheaper to buy food, lodging, etc. i'm so glad i made the decision to travel to patagonia...it really was vale la pena y los pesos. and for the others: it'll only get more touristy, crowded, and expensive as summer approaches! we're just so good.