Roadtrip Part 1: Bariloche, El Bolson, El Chalten, El Calafate

After living in our apartment in Buenos Aires for over a month, Marisa and I decided to upgrade... We bought a house!
We packed our bags once again and hopped on a bus destined for the town of Bariloche, the official starting point of our Patagonia road trip! After approximately 24 hours sitting on a bus with 12 children between the ages of 6 months and 6 years yelling and screaming and running up and down the aisles, we arrived in Bariloche and reunited with the cast of characters we would be traveling with for the next 6 weeks. On our first day together, we rented mountain bikes to explore the natural beauty surrounding Bariloche.
At this time, I should probably introduce our cast of characters, as you will most likely see their faces sneak into our blog in various jumping forms over the next month or so. On the left, we have our Aussie contingency, Josh and Siobhan. They quit their jobs too. We like them. The small blond chick sandwiched between Mariquita Chiquita and the dude in the red shorts, you may recognize from our last blog in BsAs. We reunited with Natalie once again for the road trip of a lifetime. She quit her job too. We like her too.
Back to the mountain biking! Bariloche, although somewhat touristy downtown, acts as the gateway to Patagonia for those traveling south from Buenos Aires. It has a nice town square overlooking the lake, a bunch of St. Bernards wearing little beer kegs around their necks, a pretty good museum depicting the various flora, fauna and wildlife of Patagonia. Oh yeah, Bariloche claims to be the chocolate capital of Argentina. They even have a chocolate museum. There are 7 lakes within close proximity that allow for great exploration and some pretty nice scenery shots. At times, the area really reminded us of Lake Tahoe in California. And now, without further ado, our first group jumping photo! I sure do love jumping photos... It is impossible to look like your not having a good time in a jumping photo.
Unfortunately, I almost didn't make it off the ground in that one... I'll work on my timing. That was a poor showing for sure. I have no idea how Marisa managed to get more hangtime than me.
When we stopped for a snack at one of the lakes, Josh and I decided to test the waters. Let me tell you, that water is COLD. Although we were wearing our board shorts, we didn't do much more than soak our feet... at that lake. Keep in mind all of these lakes are pretty much glacial snow melt. Frio! But the perfect stop for a photo opp on a lengthy bike ride.
Check this out... on the hill behind Marisa and the dude wearing the sunglasses is a hotel we could never afford! Thus far, Patagonia is interesting in the crowds it draws. Those traveling through this region are either on an extreme shoestring budget (us), or filthy rich (them). We haven't seen much middle ground. The hotel on the hill behind us costs $1000 per night. Just for perspective, our hostel cost $12.50. Then again, our hostel didn't have a golf course.
After an extended period of inactivity, we thought we would ease back into the realm of exercise with a leisurely bike ride along the lake shore. However, what we thought would be a little cruise along the lake turned out to be a 5 hour peddle fest through the mountains surrounding the lakes. We're not in shape for that! Nonetheless, we tore it up...
Back in town, Marisa finally stopped to smell the roses. Then sneezed. Then took a claritin. Maybe I shouldn't have been so adamant that she stop to smell the roses.
With the mountain biking behind us, we laced up the running shoes and hit the trail for a day of hiking. There is a ski resort on the outskirts of Bariloche that offers some pretty good hiking during the summer months. Our goal for the day was to make it to refugio Frey, a mountain top retreat/camp site with some killer views.
But no one warned us about the horse flies... Every step of the way we were assaulted by flies the size of small birds buzzing and humming and biting. It was awful. At one point a local woman saw Marisa running like a mad woman with her shirt around her head and her hands frantically swatting at flies. She informed us of what we now call "the magic wand." If you simply snap off a branch and gently wave it around you, the flies no longer bother you. Check out Marisa with her magic wand.
Once we hit the higher elevations, the flies started to fade away and the scenery grew more impressive. The streams in much of Patagonia flow with crystal clear potable mineral water. This is the first time in my life I've ever been able to kneel at the side of a stream, cup my hands and drink the water. It really makes you feel like a mountain man.
After we took the picture on the bridge, one of the floorboards broke and Josh almost fell in the creek...
Somewhere along the hike I got a blowout...
Maybe its all the jumping photos.
After a half day of hiking, swatting flies the size of small children, and getting in touch with our inner mountain man, we arrived at refugio Frey. The scenery was unreal. The mountain top lake was crystal clear. At that moment, we truly felt like we had arrived in Patagonia.
Then, on January 21st, 2010, we finally met the most important member of our road trip team. The one, the only, the Chevrolet Corsa Station wagon! Isn't she lovely?!
From Bariloche, we drove about 3 hours south on historic Route 40 to the town of El Bolson, a wonderful little hippy town with a phenomenal artisan market and some of the best ice cream in Argentina. We spent our first day strolling through the market, sampling the empanadas, tortas and cervesas. I'm still trying to acquire a taste for yerba mate... unsuccessfully. There's just something about the mate lifestyle I really like. Too bad the beverage tastes like ass. I'll keep trying and report back. After all, I didn't like coffee the first time I tried it. Didn't like beer either... And now my life is a delicate titration of the two substances.
I somehow convinced Marisa to take another sip of mate... In truth, I think she has given up on mate. Not on the artisan cervesas though.
Outside of El Bolson are a couple beautiful lakes that locals visit on the weekends. We stopped by to have a little picnic of our own and take a swim in the freezing cold water. Well, Josh and I took a swim. The ladies punked out. They put their feet in... pansies.

That night we had a nice grill session at our cabana. Steak and veggies, the dinner of champions. I found mondo tongs. Marisa took a picture. That's how we roll.
El Bolson is nestled in a valley with snow capped mountains to the East and West. We took a day to check out the views from both sides. To the East we found an incredible view of El Bolson, couple phenomenal jumping photos, and an forest composed of tree carvings. To the West, we found a rock called el cabeza del indio, the indian's head.
Note the magic wand in Marisa's hand. Horse flies suck.
Me and Josh, sailing above the snow capped peaks.
El Bosque Tallado, where the artists meet the trees.





Locals were always paragliding from the ridges overlooking the town.
I don't need a parachute... I got hops.
And now, la cabeza del indio... the rock shaped like an Indian's head.

Switching authors, Marisa here...From El Bolson, we were staring down almost 1000 miles of unpaved road before we reached the town of El Chalten... And no, the Chevrolet Corsa Station wagon (now named the mujer) does not have four wheel drive. Our first stretch we maxed out at 21 miles per hour. The 1000 miles was looking very long.

We stayed a night in a tiny, random town in the middle of nowhere, where we found a small cabin that slept 5 people. We were all looking forward to a quiet night, with comfy beds and a desperately needed good night's sleep. As we crawled into bed, Mikey's stomach started rumbling and he was complaining of cramps. I consoled him to the best of my ability, remember thinking, "that sucks," then rolled over to fall asleep while he made multiple trips to the bathroom. Next thing I knew, my stomach was making similar noises. Long story short, all 5 of us were up at 4am taking turns kicking one another out of our 1 bathroom... And we didn't have any toilet paper. Miraculously, the little cabana came equipped with a bidet, so it was not a complete catastrophe.

After a rough night, sipping teas together at 4am, truly bonding next to the bathroom, life improved. Our next section of the drive was down the worst stretch of Argentina's infamous Route 40, the road that goes from Bolivia all the way down to the "end of the world." This stretch of the road was unpaved the entire way. Despite the number of disaster stories we had heard, from cracked windshields, 3 flat tires in a row, huge dents in the car or getting stranded hundreds of miles from civilization...we came out with few scratches on the mujer and no disasters. Mikey took the reigns for the worst of the drive and even managed to keep us at a steady 50 mph....most of the time.

What really made matters worse, however, was the paved road we had to drive NEXT TO throughout chunks of the drive. Apparently the current Argentine president is actually living up to his promise of paving the roads in Patagonia. We can attest that the roads are currently being built. As a matter of fact, they are almost completed. And we got to watch out of our bumpy window the smooth beauty that is a paved road...while we crept along. Grrr.
All told, it was a fun adventure, especially since we didn't break the car in the process. We certainly all got to know each other well, smashed in a car together for 2 days and even caught some unbelievable scenery down this desolate, windswept road.
And alas, we finally reached our next destination...El Chalten, the "Capital Nacional del Trekking," so their sign says at the entrance to the town.
A tiny town tucked in a small valley at the base of imposing mountains, El Chalten offers some of the best trekking we have ever done. There was no better place to start our camping trip...
And the views only got better. Our first day, we hiked to a lake overlooking the mountain Torre. While a bit overcast, we were still able to view the massive glaciar, mountains and spires in the landscape.





We also did the long hike to see the areas biggest attraction, Mt. Fitz Roy. It looked fake in the distance, like a shiny gem stuck out in the middle of the mountains. The entire 5 hour hike we faced Ftiz Roy and slowly made our way toward it. Hands down, one of the best hikes we have ever done.

We even saw a woodpecker!
The last half a mile of the hike was straight up a crazy hill. When we popped over the mountain, we were right underneath Fitz Roy and the Lagoon de los Tres, a beautiful lake nestled in the mountainside with perfectly clear blue water.



10 hours later, we were finally finished and absolutely over it...
Our next stop was the more touristy part of S. Patagonia, El Calafate, where tourists flock to see the huge iceberg chunks break off the 60 meter high Perito Moreno Glaciar. While touristy for most, the trusty mujer enabled us to not only avoid the crowds, but also bypass the 70 peso entrance fee! The gates do not open until 7am when buses finally start running, so being the cheapskates that we are, we forced ourselves to wake up at 5am and get there early. On a positive note, there was not a single other person at the glacier and we got to see the sun rise over this 280 square km ice cube.
We stayed for many hours, listening to the sounds of the ice cracking and echoing through the canyon, and watching chunks of ice the size of a school bus fall into the lake. Actually, by the time tourists started showing up, the glacier had become relatively quiet. In the wee hours the corner chunk started cracking and we got to see a HUGE iceberg make a thunderous sound as it plummeted to the bottom of the lake. All in all, it was pretty cool (literally).
We will continue to head south from here. Our next stop will be on the Chilean side of Patagonia, where we will venture into Torres del Paine National Park and spend 7 days camping and trekking. We'll keep you updated...

Much Love,
Mikey&Marisa