A week or so after Salt, everyone’s favorite senior travel couple, were careening through waves in the north arctic, Bricole, everyone’s favorite celebrity couple, finally find ourselves on the opposite side of the world. It began with many noises emanating from the plaza below as vendors constructed their stalls for a flea market. It’s been hard to get a good night’s rest since we started this trip.
Our flight was scheduled for 1210, and I verified as much to ensure the ferry experience didn’t repeat itself. NEVERTHELESS, recent history would seem all too familiar once more. Because of the aforementioned flea market, many of the nearby streets were closed to vehicles, so we had to walk our bags to another corner. The Uber ride took much longer than expected…about 25 mins longer. After all of this rideshare shenanigans, we arrived at the terminal around 1120am for a 1210pm flight. I had been able to “check-in” online, but this tends not to mean much in foreign countries especially when you’re standby. I tried to print tickets using a kiosk, but it said the check-in had closed because of the time. I went to a “special assistance” desk which mercifully had no line. The lady there was super helpful in getting us sorted out. Then she said, “There is a situation I’m afraid…” Immediately my mind went racing to all kinds of scenarios ranging from “It’s oversold,” to “The door plug fell off your plane,” to “The Argentinian authorities have flagged your passports.” In the end, she just needed to check our bags because they were over the weight limit. Ah, no problem.
We breezed through security and soon found ourselves waiting at gate 8 in the predictably chaotic terminal at Jorge Newbery. We were the last to board the Aerolineas Argentinas 737 after being given separate seats once again. That is to be expected when flying to a region that is in its peak travel season. I suppose we should be thankful to have had seats at all. Nicole may disagree with that statement as she was placed next to a man with bad breath and a six month old baby. The three hour flight seemed long. We could really feel the wind as we approached El Calafate, but the pilots did a good job getting us down and even salvaged a decent landing out of it somehow. Being a domestic flight, there was no customs to deal with. We collected our bags and got the rental car from Localiza rentacar, snagging one of the last remaining cars available to rent in Patagonia — a small Renault Sandero hatchback. While Localiza had an office, they also kind of didn’t. There was a sign for the company outside a dark office that didn’t have a desk, a computer, or frankly anything. All the paperwork and transactions were done standing outside the office before heading out on the road.
I don’t recall seeing much of a town or anything outside the airport. For the two and a half hour drive to El Chaltén, we did not see many cars, but we were afforded many scenic vistas, stopping the car a few times to take a look around. The wind seemed to be picking up. It had been maybe 30-35mph back at the airport in El Calafate, but was probably pushing 40mph as we neared El Chaltén. Driving proved to be a bit of a challenge, so standing and taking pictures was nearly impossible. At one overlook, Nicole watched a man’s pants get blown down while trying to take a picture. As we pulled up to Los Cerros del Chaltén boutique hotel, the wind was probably cresting 50mph. Dust was blasting us and actually cut my hand when it hit me with such velocity.
Our hotel is considered to be upscale and Nicole had priced it in excess of $700 for the two nights on her sites, but I got a deal through ID90 that cut off a few hundred more from that. It seems to cater to affluent tour groups, which I didn’t love, but it seems like a lot of them are leaving tomorrow. I booked a mountain-view room, but found out later that the “hills” outside our room were dwarfed by a much better “valley-view” in the opposite direction. I inquired about my aforementioned “mountain-view” and the concierge maybe felt bad for us and offered to get us a valley-view room for tomorrow when one becomes available at no extra cost.
Rather than brave 50mph winds, we elected to eat at the hotel’s restaurant. Then with the help of the hotel’s resident guide who gave us wind forecasts, we plotted out tomorrow’s Patagonia adventure. We are hoping to hike to Laguna de los tres, a sweeping viewpoint of the iconic Fitz Roy peak. It will still be windy tomorrow, but not like 50mph winds…we hope anyway. It is a fairly ambitious hike that will take us most of the day to get out and back. Hopefully the weather cooperates enough to allow this to happen.
passports & pepto bismol 