Always nice with the calm in Patagonia
In the south of Argentina you should take your time: for the bus ride, at the cash desk, while hiking – actually for everything. If you adopt the “tranquilo” rhythm of the locals, you can enjoy Patagonia’s highlights in a relaxed manner, even when it is crowded.
The sight of the Perito Moreno is overwhelming. Tours to the glacier can be booked in El Calafate
Quelle: Getty Images/Aurora Open/Blake Burton/Aurora Photos
Ma trip around the world took me to southern Argentina, to Patagonia. I tend to be more inclined towards the tropical regions, which is why the southernmost part of the world was never high on my travel wish list. Nevertheless, I am curious about this part of the world – and my amazement grows the more I explore this natural wonderland.
Patagonia is huge. Crossed by the Andes, the area occupies the entire south of South America and stretches north from the Strait of Magellan for about 3000 kilometers. Chile and Argentina share the region, the Argentine part is much larger.
Anyone who travels Patagonia with a rental car or bus needs firm staying power. The buses between Bariloche and El Calafate, for example, take up to 24 hours for the 1400-kilometer route. And so I decided against the bus marathon and covered the distances by plane. Especially since the flight prices are only slightly higher than those for the bus rides.
Quickly learned a lesson in Argentina
As soon as I landed in El Calafate, the barren, spacious landscape on Lago Argentino casts a spell over me. In February and March the weather conditions are ideal: sunshine, bright blue skies, temperatures between 15 and 20 degrees Celsius.
Lago Argentino is the largest lake in the country. It is fed by several glaciers, including the Perito Moreno
Quelle: Getty Images/Javier Ghersi
Since there are no public buses between the airport and the city, I take one of the private mini-vans. And already I’m in the middle of my first lesson on not stressing in Patagonia.
Although it was supposed to be a 30-minute drive, after an hour in the packed mini-van, only two passengers made it to their accommodation. Before that, the driver calmly delivered any packages, as if there weren’t even 20 passengers on the benches. Nobody on board complains or gets nervous.
My second lesson: In Argentina, almost everyone goes to dinner at the same time – between 9 and 10 p.m. When I turn up in El Calafate late in the evening, starved, all the popular restaurants are of course full. I find one last free table at a fast food restaurant down a side street. And learn not to let myself get stressed, even if I have to wait around an hour for the ordered food at full dinner time.
You also need patience when paying. At first I found it really annoying that the cash registers in Argentina worked so slowly. I now find the Argentinian “tranquilo” variant (in English: unexcited) much more relaxed than the staccato check-out at German checkouts, where everyone, stressed out, tries to put their purchases on the conveyor belt and put them away again as quickly as possible.
By bus to the Perito Moreno glacier in Patagonia
El Calafate is a tourist town through and through. But it also has a gigantic tourist attraction to offer: the Perito Moreno glacier. A number of tourist packages are offered at every corner of the city. I personally only book the bus transfer to the glacier. By the way, the prices are similar for all providers. Arriving at the glacier, you can decide spontaneously whether you want to take a boat tour to the ice massif or not. I find it to be a worthwhile investment.
View of the glacier from the viewing platform at Perito Moreno
Those: pa / imageBROKER / Peter Giovannini
On the other hand, I save myself the walk directly on the glacier ice, because just looking at the Perito Moreno is enough for me to be able to say: It is one of the most spectacular natural spectacles I have ever seen. How this 30-kilometer-long glacier pushes itself forward and every few minutes lets ice fragments thunder into the water with a loud bang is great cinema.
At Perito Moreno you can take a boat tour to the ice massif …
Those: pa / dpa / Fede J. Ciarallo
… or hike directly over the glacier ice
Quelle: Getty Images/© Santiago Urquijo
El Calafate is also visited to get to El Chaltén. This mountain town, which was only founded in 1985, is a good two hour bus ride away. Although everything revolves around tourism in El Chaltén, there is a tingling atmosphere of adventure. Almost everyone here is either avid hikers or mountaineers. In the evening, sunburned faces meet in one of the many bars to relax over burgers and beer after the exertion of the ascent and descent.
Around El Chaltén, almost every arduous ascent is rewarded with a dream panorama – of white glaciers, a turquoise blue lagoon and imposing mountains such as the Fitz Roy with its striking 3405 meter high peak.
Beautiful to look at, but extremely difficult to climb: the Fitz Roy
What: Getty Images/Anton Petrus
A must are the popular routes to Lago de los Tres and Laguna Torre. My personal highlights are the Glaciar Huemul (early in the morning before all other visitors) and the slightly less popular route to the Loma del Pliegue Tumbado with probably the best view of the entire region around El Chaltén.
In the end, I don’t give a damn that El Chaltén has poor internet coverage, unpredictable weather and expensive accommodation. The nature experience is as first class as it is breathtaking and outweighs everything else.
The author, here at the lake of the Huemel glacier, has no regrets about his journey through Patagonia
Quelle: Martin Lewicki
Read more parts of the world tour series “One Way Ticket” here. The column appears every two weeks.