Argentinan Patagonia and beyond the edge of the comfort zone

Bussing the Pampas

Some of our best travel experiences have been in doing stuff on the just the right side of our comfort zone.

Having had a very long transfer day bussing across the border at Cerro Castillo into Argentina to El Calafate and then a further bus to El Chalten we had a morning booking up tours, a laundry trip etc and then decided on a spot of white water rafting, the river being too high for kayaking (which should have been a clue). Anyway we were told it was a grade 3 trip. In fact the first rapid was a grade 4 and our steersman, ie, the only person who knew what he was doing, was thrown out in a “ hole “ and disappeared down stream in the boiling maelstrom of white water. Out of our  six crew, 3 had lost  their paddles and one girl had fallen backwards into the water but was still attached to the raft by the toe strap. Actually her being in the water allowed us to move into a lee by the rocks and the steersman was able to get ashore and scramble back. Otherwise we would definitely overturned and all been in the water.

We did actually listen to the safety briefing

All smiles at this stage

Basically, we had another hour of this and the steersman was washed overboard a second time. Very hairy and definitely out of the comfort zone. In between we had fun by standing up on the raft edge and chanting; the power of the group!

Heads down and paddling : photo's taken by the pro kayaker with us

We recovered eating beef a in a restaurant, La Tapera, which was so good we went back the next two nights as well.  A record!!

Next day was a big hike, the Laguna de los Tres, 15 miles and 3,500 of ascent including a tough scramble at the end but worth it for the amazing views of the Fitz Roy Peaks and glaciers; one of our top 5 treks ever.

Laguna de los Tres ; the dots in front are people !

Laguna Sucia: Actual colour!

Antarctic Beech

Laguna Capri with Monte Fitz Roy in the background

The next day we had the Laguna Torre trek, same distance but less ascent. Still same amazing clear blue skies and cooling breeze.

Loica (long-tailed meadowlark)

Firebush

Laguna Torre with Cerro Torre emerging from the clouds

Red foxes are more than aware where trekkers picnic 

El Chalten is definitely a place to visit; pleasantly ramshackle, all kinds of activities with most hikes from the door, a week would be good to do it justice.

The road into El Chalten in the early evening light