El Chaten

Our first stop in Argentina was to El Chaten, a village within Los Glaciares National Park on the Argentinian side of Patagonia. We took a bus from Puerto Natales in Chile, to El Calafate, where we were to take a connecting bus to El Chaten. However our first bus was delayed, so we missed our connecting bus and with no cash or internet (as we had entered into a new country), we didn’t have many options! We ended up meeting two Canadian brothers, Ben and Jordan, who were also looking for a place to stay for the night. In the end we all stayed at a hostel next to the bus station which was also beside a pizza restaurant and a bar, so it turned out to be a great night! We were able to get an early bus the next morning, which got us back on track again.

We spent 4 nights in total in El Chaten, and we absolutely loved it! It’s a small village, mostly made up of restaurants and small shops. We spent our first 2 nights in a pretty grim hostel before moving to Thiamulu for the rest of our stay. This was much better! We got a gorgeous breakfast from the owner each morning, which made the experience so homely. The breakfast’s had been pretty grim, but this was the nicest in ages!

The main thing to do in El Chaten is hiking, so thankfully the weather played ball (mostly). We hiked Laguna Torre and Laguna de Los Tres. We didn’t get to the top of Laguna de Los Tres to catch a glimpse of Mt Fitz Roy (one of the most difficult peaks in the world) as on that day the wind really picked up and the park rangers wouldn’t let us finish the hike for safety reasons. The views were still great though.

In the evenings we ate steak and drank wine. We also met up with Jordan, Ben and another recruit, Chris who all ended up coming to El Chaten. On our last night we perhaps had a glass too many and decided to hike for sunrise without going to sleep! The hike was about 5 hours in total but as we were walking in the dark, it took us a little longer! As you will see from the photos, there was absolutely nothing around us and no signal either. It was all fun and games until Tori and I realised that we were probably going to miss our bus to El Calafate (as we were due to leave the next morning) but more importantly, we were going to miss breakfast! I don’t know where we got our energy from, but we ran back the whole way and made the bus! We even sweet talked the owner of the guesthouse into giving us a (very) late breakfast, which she did reluctantly! It wasn’t a bad way to ring in Easter Sunday! 😂

El Calafate

Our next destination was El Calafate, a small town again in Southern Patagonia, mainly known for being the home of Perito Moreno Glacier.

We took separate trips there as I decided to hike on the glacier itself, which was a whole day event. I think the tour is a little overpriced for what you get, but I really enjoyed it! And now I can say I have hiked on a glacier 🤷‍♀️.

The hike was topped off with some whiskey and glacier ice!

Buenos Aires

We flew from El Calafate to Buenos Aires, our next Argentinian destination. We stayed in the Palermo region for 2 nights, an area full of bars, cafes and shops. It’s a safe place and a pretty common place to stay for tourists. The hostel was quite nice and we had a lovely few days there just wandering around. I realise now that I didn’t take one photo in Palermo, but here is one from google that gives you the idea!

Mendoza

After 2 nights, we took another flight to Mendoza, a famous wine region in Argentina. We wanted to return to Buenos Aires for the weekend which is why we split up our time there.

Our initial entrance to Mendoza was a little hairy! When we arrived, we couldn’t really find any thing to do while we were waiting for our accommodation to let us check in. So we decided to go for an early dinner while we waited. At this point we had been having a GREAT time so decided to tighten up our belts for the next few days. We tried to find somewhere cheap to eat but before we knew it, we were eating steaks and drinking all the wine! Tori was in charge of this accommodation, which we thought was a hostel. It turned out that it was a couple in their 60’s guesthouse who were waiting for us to check in. When we eventually arrived, it was clear we had lost track of time and the man of the house started telling us off for coming home too late! It got a bit heated but the next morning everyone was full of apologies and the couple told us they were only stressed because they were worried about us which was very cute of them! In the end they left a basket of food outside our room each night and it turned out we had the loveliest time there! It’s the closest we have felt to being teenagers in a long time!!

The main thing to do in Mendoza is to take a wine tour. Our tour brought us to 4 different wineries and also an olive oil farm. We enjoyed it, and the people on the tour were also great!

In Mendoza we also spent a day at some natural pools. It was a bit chaotic when we arrived, but we were just happy to be in hot water! The showers have been …Interesting!!

Buenos Aires #2

From Mendoza we flew back to Buenos Aires, but this time we stayed in San Telmo, another popular area for travellers. We dropped our bags and went straight to San Telmo Market, which was a little like the Time Out Market in Lisbon. We got a really good steak here and it’s definitely a must do in Buenos Aires. There is such a good atmosphere here.

Sunday is the best day to visit this market, as the market continues outside. While exploring, we came across our first Argentinian tango experience. One of many!

The next day we visited the ‘La Boca’ area, home of Boca Juniors soccer team (which meant absolutely nothing to us)!

La Boca is also known for its colourful streets. It’s a big tourist spot so it was pretty packed with people when we were there. It’s quite a nice place to walk around though.

We ended up having our favourite meal in Argentina in La Boca, totally by chance! Argentinian BBQ is divine!

Of course we couldn’t leave Buenos Aires without seeing a tango show! we couldn’t use our phones inside but the show was great! Tango dancers are incredible to watch!

We visited a few more sights before finishing our trip with a visit to Recoleta Cemetery – apparently the worlds most beautiful cemetery. 14 acres big! It’s organised like a city with each grave/tomb built like a house, organised in ‘streets’. Many had stairs with 2 or more floors inside. Many were made of marble. Some were very dilapidated inside but others looked brand new. It was a weird, but cool place to visit!

I almost forgot that we spent a day in Uruguay also! From Buenos Aires we took a ferry to Colonia, where we did a walking tour of the town. Honestly, we were quite bored there as there was literally nothing to do! We can tick another country off the list though!

That sums up our trip to Argentina. We had an incredible time, as always but we were both SO excited to get to Brazil! We had a feeling the best was yet to come- and we weren’t disappointed!

Next stop, Florianopolis.