The journey continues: here's a reposting of Day 38, with pictures!
Day 38– Sunday April 3 – On which the team endures a grueling trip to El Chalten
The 9-passenger van taking us from Bajo Calicola to El Chalten – about 325km – arrived on Saturday night while we were celebrating. We dutifully loaded up in the morning. Bram was really feeling pretty ropey, so we tried to secure him a comfortable spot with a seat in the sun. Then we set off. For about 25km the road was paved, but then turned into a rutted construction road for almost 175km along Highway 40, a main Argentinean road getting paved only gradually. The shocks on this van were shot, and it was impossible to move faster than 40km an hour (about 25mph) without shaking apart, so the whole trip took us nearly ten hours.
The vastness of the land became more and more clear as we beetled along the rutted way, although the constant bumping and bouncing, plus the rushing of the constant high wind whistling through door and window seals made for a truly uncomfortable ride. Stretched out as far as the eye could see was an enormous panorama, the size of which was hard to grasp even when in the middle of it. We ground our way slowly across it. Very slowly. To the horizon line of the plain the only thing covering the ground was close-cropped sage-like clumps, some shaped like tumbleless tumbleweeds, interspersed with numberless cone-shaped tufts of a stiff golden grass. Oddly, in this apparently forsaken landscape we saw plenty of wildlife: whole herds of guanacos, families of rheas, and some huge beautifully colored birds of prey, the Caracara, sitting on fence posts.
Just over halfway we stopped at the Estancia Siberia, over the hill from the gigantic Lago Cardiel. This Estancia sported a bright blue painted derelict antique truck in its front yard and a quasi-deserted coffee shop. We were able to glean some cafés con leche and a few epanadas there, watching out a window as a dozen or so gauchos hacked pieces off a spitted lamb roasting in the back courtyard and drank bottles of beer and wine. Sunday dinner in Siberia. Everyone was already feeling a little queasy, and poor Bram looked white. On the road again, we continued to thread back and forth over the construction until, about 130km from our destination, we reached pavement. A cheer broke out, the driver smiled, and everyone relaxed as we made our final approach to El Chalten.
Ahead to the west all was shrouded in clouds from the distance, but as we got closer they cleared, just like in cheesy adventure films, and we saw that the town itself is nestled in sublime mountainous terrain. Rearing up behind El Chalten are steep rocky foothills and stony walls, and just beyond them one of the most famous and difficult mountaineering peaks in the world, the spectacular Mount Fitzroy. We pulled off the road a couple of kilometers away and snapped some pictures. We planned some mountain experiences, hikes and such, but had little idea of what dark forces lay in store.
