El Chalten, Argentina - Day 1
Tuesday, February 28, 2023
Our day began at the Calafate Parque Hotel in El Calafate, Argentina. I’ve never seen Aden get ready so breakfast so quickly — he knew there was a tray of bacon downstairs at the breakfast buffet and he wanted his share. Argentinians aren’t big breakfast people; most have cafe con leche (coffee with milk) and a medialuna (small glazed croissant) to start their day. Our hotel in El Calafate, however, has quite the breakfast spread. Bigger Argentinian breakfasts often include slices of ham & cheese (often times, the ham & cheese is served on toasted white bread), fruit cocktail, yogurt (pronounced sho-gurt in Argentina), toast with jam & dulce de leche spreads, alfajores cookies, and a selection of bars & brownies. Tory loves breakfast foods here! She’s all about eating brownies for breakfast.
After breakfast, the kids and I returned to the room to pack our bags while Andi ran next door to see about getting a haircut. He went yesterday, but the barber told him to come back this morning. We tried convincing Aden to get his haircut as well, but he’s adamant about only allowing the barber at home in Wisconsin to touch his hair. His hair grows so fast though! He’s going to look like a poof ball by the end of our travels.
We had to be out of our hotel room by 11:00am, but decided to hang around the hotel lobby until Andi finished his calls. While the kids and I waited for Andi to finish, we took the opportunity to do some school. It just so happened that the lesson in Tory’s Language Arts textbook today was all about Patagonia. Isn't that neat?! Talk about textbook studies coming to life. This is what traveling with our kids is all about.
Finally around 1:30pm, we were ready to hit the road for El Chalten. Expect, now everyone was hungry for lunch. Andi and I thought it’d be fastest to grab a bite to eat in El Calafate. We walked down the street and picked the first restaurant we saw. Andi and I split a plate of empanadas and a salad; the kids split a bowl of spaghetti and French fries. Empanadas are a really popular food in Argentina, and I liked that they’re all a little different. Today, we ordered cordero (lamb), carne (meat), and humita (corn) empanadas. They all had great flavor with a flaky, pastry-like crust.
Neither Andi or I realized that El Chalten was a 3 1/2 hour drive from El Calafate, and weren’t mentally prepared for such a long, exhausting car ride. The wind was relentless on the open highway pushing our puny Cronos rental around the road like a Hot Wheels car. There was literally nothing to see between the two cities other than one rest stop/countryside hotel famous for accommodating outlaws Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid way back in 1905 & and a gazillion guanacos (the Argentinian cousin of the llama).
Andi needed a break from driving, so we stopped at the La Leona rest stop to use the bathroom and get a coffee. I wasn't expecting to see so many people there! We were quite literally in the middle of nowhere and the cafe was packed with people from the United States of all places. I’ve never seen so much performance gear being worn in one place — we’re clearly on our way to Argentina’s hiking capital.
El Chalten is a small town in southern Patagonia famous for its outdoor activities, especially hiking. The town is surrounded by the majestic Fitz Roy and Torre Mountains. We’re staying in El Chalten four nights and hoping to do some hiking while we’re here.
Andi reserved us a place to stay at El Chalten Apartments. The property manager gave us the run-down when we arrived, taking time to offer suggestions for restaurants in town. He asked if we knew which hikes we planned to do and when Andi said we’d be looking for walks under 7 km, the guy audibly laughed! We may be in Argentina’s hiking capital, but the reality is that Tory and Aden can’t wait more than 5 miles at a time. I mean, they probably could, but all their complaining would make Andi and I’s experience on the trail absolutely miserable. There are some shorter hikes in El Chalten, and I’m confident we’ll find a few that are a good fit for our family.
One perk of staying at El Chalten Apartments is that they deliver the makings for a continental breakfast to the apartment everyday. Andi mentioned this when we talked about staying here, but I didn’t expect the offerings to be so generous. When we arrived, our apartment refrigerator was stocked with milk, yogurt, orange juice, butter, jam, dulce de leche, toast, cereal, muffins, apples, and coffee/tea.
It’s a small apartment, but perfectly sized for our family of four. Accommodations include one full-size bed, one bathroom, a small kitchette, and a lofted bedroom with two twin beds.
Tory and Aden weren’t interested in leaving again once we unpacked our bags, so Andi offered to make them spaghetti for dinner. El Chalten is such a small town that Andi and I were able to walk down the street and grab a bite to eat at a restaurant called La Senyera. The atmosphere inside the restaurant was really cozy. We ordered a falafel sandwich and bowl of vegetable stew to share.
Tomorrow is Wednesday, so it’s a work and school day for us. Andi is worried because the internet in this town seems to be non-existent despite several people telling him otherwise. I hope he can find a place to make his calls work.
