The next day we flew down to El Calafate, and then drove to El Chaltén to get ready for our big hikes over the next couple days. I quickly fell in love with this small mountain town!
1 We started the morning with a 3 hour flight from Buenos Aires down to El Calafate, then drove a couple hours North to the small mountain town of El Chaltén. Here we stop along the road for our first look at the Cerro Torre and Fitz Roy massifs in the distance.
2 A closer look at the impressive peaks. They look like a single range, but Cerro Torre on the left is actually well behind Fitz Roy.
3 There are guanacos everywhere along the road. The guanaco is related to the llama, is quite cute, and is very graceful running and jumping.
4 A couple guanacos cross the road right in front of our van.
5 The road into El Chaltén. A ready made painting if there ever was one.
6 Our driver takes a photo of Dad and I as we enter Parque Nacional Los Glaciares (Glacier National Park). Yes, they have one in South America too!
7 Then we check into Hostería Senderos, our hotel for the next couple nights. We have a great dinner in town then settle in for our first big hike tomorrow.