THE WILD SIDE
PATAGONIA, FEBRUARY 2024

PART I: EL CHALTÉN, 4 DAYS
PART II: EL CALAFATE, 4 DAYS
PART III: TORRES DEL PAINE, 3 DAYS

Hotel info’s at the very end. Here we go.

-

PART I
EL CHALTÉN, ARGENTINA

Day 1: Arrival
Sunny and I rolled into El Calafate airport around noon, after an 18 hour flight from NYC.

There are a few car rental places at the airport. Sunny had reserved one online prior to the trip. The drive to El Chaltén along the iconic National Route 40 was quite spectacular. The whole road trip is about 2.5-3 hours. Make sure you download the offline GPS because you will lose signal completely at some point.

The town of El Chaltén is small and uncomplicated. Hotels are mostly near the main street, and I think all concierges give great suggestions about hiking trails. However, let me tell you… the wifi situation in town is insufferable. You can get wifi from pretty much nowhere except inside the hotels!

Time to connect with mother nature, I guess, a digital detox.

Day 2: Hike to Cerro Torre
The initial hike in Patagonia should not be Fitz Roy - that much I decided. So we went for Cerro Torre, which in retrospect was a perfect choice. The hike is about 6km (3.7 miles), round trip. And because of our intent to be photographers (and models), it took us a whole day.

Day 3: Hike to Glacier Huemul
Because it was cloudy and rainy, our concierge suggested we hold off on Fitz Roy for another day. So we took this cute little hike to Glacier Huemul. It was a mix of moss-covered forests, streams and waterfalls, and open mountain trails. The entire hike was less than an hour. And actually really cute. I felt like I was in a fairytale. High ROI… as they say.

Day 4: Hike to Fitz Roy
Ah, the infamous Fitz Roy. Here we come.

The first 20 minutes felt like a relentless trial. A continuous, nonstop uphill. I recall wondering, can I really do this? Was I once again being my overly optimistic self? But once we passed the first 2 miles, the terrain began to ease, leveling out into a more manageable cadence.

Mountains after mountains. Forests with the scars of ancient fires. Streams over rocks of every imaginable shape. The final hour of our trek was particularly challenging. It was a narrow, wet, and slippery path littered with small rocks, making me question the meaning of all this. People who came before us, already on their descent, saw our sweaty faces and offered their cheers. “Almost there.” “It’s worth it.” “Just 100 meters more.” The warmth from fellow hikers made my legs slightly less sore.

Day 5: Leave El Chaltén & Explore El Calafate
Miss Sunny, with her impeccable planning skills, scheduled a down day between our adventures at Fitz Roy and Big Ice. Best planner.

The heart of El Calafate is filled with restaurants, each showcasing Patagonian lamb in their glass windows. But there's one spot that haunts my taste buds even today: Mako Fuegos y Vinos. We had an early dinner because we wanted to day drink Champagne on the sidewalk, and the semi-fancy façade of this restaurant seemed just right. It turned out to be much more than we expected. A gastronomy dream. A theater. Argentinian hospitality. You simply MUST go. We were shocked. And happy.

-

PART II
BIG ICE & ESTANCIA CRISTINA, EL CALAFATE, ARGENTINA

Day 6: Big Ice Trek in Perito Moreno Glacier
So, Wikipedia calls it one of the most important “tourist attractions” in Argentine Patagonia. I know how it sounds. But maybe it was the vastness of the ice field, maybe it was the rope-clipping by the cliffs… It didn’t feel touristy at all.

We went with a company called Hielo & Aventura. The day started at dawn. The tour bus picked us up at our hotel and drove us to a port where we boarded a boat that cut through the glacier national park. Once inside the glacier, we split into two little groups, each with 7-8 people and two guides. You’ll spend the whole day with your group. It was a full day hike on the ice with crampons. Advice: bring sunscreen.

On the boat ride back from trekking, we were served a glass of whiskey on the rocks. Needless to say, the rock is from the Perito Moreno Glacier. Drinking whiskey with ice from the Ice Age! Pretty cool.

Day 7-9: Estancia Cristina
Estancia Cristina, nestled within Parque Nacional Los Glaciares, is an all-inclusive retreat that began as a family farmhouse in the 1910s. Even today, it retains the charm and vibe of a ranch. Waking up in the middle of the mountains was dreamy. But no electricity at all past 11pm was both a blessing and a pain. Save your phone battery. Save the earth. Amen.

Like all beautiful spots, it was a bit of a haul to get there. We left our car back at our hotel in El Calafate, and the folks from the estancia came to fetch us. Good service usually comes with a steep price, y’know. $$$$

The estancia offers a bunch of experiences, all kind of tamed and easy. We did horseback riding on the first day, and we loved it so much that we repeated on the second day. Took a gentle hike to see Upsala Glacier, too. The landscape was almost like another planet, weird and otherworldly beautiful. Overall the stay was delightful.

As we were leaving Estancia Cristina, we spent the night back at the center of El Calafate. The next day was set for a whole day drive to Chile. This road trip was… what’s the word, thrilling?

First of all, the roads were not roads. Just rocks. Secondly, let me remind you that there was no signal… If you had a flat tire, best of luck. We downloaded every single digital map and saved every possible emergency number we could find before this 4.5 hour drive. By the time we got to the Argentina-Chile border, we were almost cheering.

Then the Chilean border officer drops the bomb: our car rental paperwork needs a stamp—from the rental place back at El Calafate airport! After many rounds of google translate and my best puppy-dog eyes, they sent us back to just the other side of the border, to get a stamp from the Argentina immigration office. Advice: get your stamps at the rental place. And keep google translate handy.

-

PART III
TORRES DEL PAINE NATIONAL PARK, CHILE

Day 10: Lago Grey (Grey Glacier)
The hotel we stayed at was called Rio Serrano. It was probably the biggest hotel in Torres Del Paine National Park with the best infrastructure for visitors. It felt civilized. Maybe a little vanilla. They offered everything. Hiking, climbing, horseback riding, glacier touring, etc. As soon as we got there, we hopped onto a boat tour to Lago Grey.

It was a rainy evening. Black mountains. Blue ice fields. Misty air. It was pure drama. Unlike the Big Ice tour in El Calafate, this one was all on the boat. Made me feel like a Targarian.

Day 11: Hike to the Base of Las Torres
The golden Las Torres was not what we expected.

We left early in the morning, around 8am, and arrived at 2pm. Just like Fitz Roy, it was a long, tough, beautiful, and soul-crushing kind of hike. The last hour was a real killer. When we finally reached the base, it was so foggy we couldn’t see a thing. Six hours of hard work for a big, fat nothing!

Life, sometimes. Makes you think that’s why hikers and mountaineers seem like wiser people.

We waited for 30 minutes. A slight summer breeze picked up, and the fog started to lift to reveal the peaks of Los Torres. The fellow hikers all cheered together - felt like a big party.

Day 12: Departure
On our way back from Los Torres, we had our worst nightmare. A flat tire. We kept driving on it for an hour back to the hotel. Here’s where I give a shout-out to our vanilla hotel and the awesome people in Chile. They changed that tire faster than I could blink, knowing we had a flight to catch to Buenos Aires.

The last morning at Torres del Paine was magical. I watched a big herd of horses trotting along the path in front of our room (while the tire changing was happening). The golden sunrise filtered through the dust around the horses, casting a shimmering light against the mountains in distance. The sound of the horseshoes hitting the ground. The sweet scent of the morning grass. I knew then I had to come back for more of this. Maybe spend a bit longer in Chile next time.

-

APPENDIX - HOTEL INFO

1. El Chaltén: Destino Sur Hotel & Spa de Montaña
2. El Calafate: Blanca Patagonia Hostería Boutique
3. Estancia Cristina
4. Torres del Paine: Río Serrano Hotel

©All photographs on this page are taken by me and any reproduction or reposting of said photos is strictly prohibited without proper attribution.