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Fitz Roy is the king of the many mountain peaks that make up the Fitz Roy massif, towering over the town of El Chaltén. We were fortunate to get rare clear skies overhead the first couple days.

Fifteen years ago we spent six days at a lodge called Explora in Chilean Patagonia. We’ve described it ever since as one of the most beautiful places we’ve ever been — and one of the best travel experiences overall. Patagonia is a dreamscape of rugged Andean mountains and bright blue glacier-fed rivers and lakes. And Explora offered a great combination of challenging day-time adventures, highly comfortable lodging, and great food.

Now that we’re at the very bottom of the South American continent anyhow, we decided to check out the Argentine side of Patagonia — and another Explora lodge. So we booked six nights at Explora El Chaltén, which sits at the base of the most iconic mountain peaks in Argentina. These are the very peaks depicted in the logo for Patagonia sportswear, in case you were wondering.

Our lunch spot the first day of hiking

El Chaltén itself is a village, founded in 1985, inside Los Glacieres National Park. It’s considered the trekking capital of Argentina and sits at the base of the dramatic Fitz Roy massif, a group of towering granite peaks, the tallest of which is Mount Fitz Roy.

From Ushuaia we caught a flight of a little over an hour, north and west, to El Calafate, followed by a 2 hour drive to El Chaltén, and then another grueling hour up a rough road to the lodge. That was the plan anyway, but for a little snag. As we awaited our bags at the airport in El Calafate, they took forever. The crowd started thinning out. Finally Jim’s bag came out. And then his second. (Yes, we are each traveling with two bags, something we’ve virtually never done before. But we have to have clothes for hot summer in Buenos Aires, possible extreme cold in Antarctica, and a few dressy nights on the ship.)

Then the moment of dread. The belt stops. Every single other person has trickled out. Every bag has been delivered except for my two. I’m supposed to start 5 days of hiking tomorrow in temperatures just above freezing, in a very remote area, and I have no clothes, no equipment, no shoes except what I’m wearing.

To my surprise, an airline rep pretty quickly determined that my bags were still back in Ushuaia, and that another flight could bring them up later that evening. The airline would send them on a bus to El Chaltén — but not the additional hellish hour up the mountain to our lodge. So we journeyed to the lodge without my bags, where the extremely helpful staff monitored the situation.

Eventually they announced that there was good news and bad. My bag had arrived in El Calafate, but the flight was late. The bus would get to El Chaltén around 11 pm, and I’d be required to meet it in person with my passport to take receipt of the bags. The wonderful staff person would accompany me — and provide a car and a driver. But I had to do that treacherous drive there and back late at night if I wanted to have my stuff to hike tomorrow.

Navigating the Rio de las Vueltas

I dreaded that trip, but it had to be done. As I gathered my passport and the luggage tags and lost bag report, I noticed something peculiar. Apparently, they’d put the wrong tags on our bags, so that my two lost bags had Jim’s tags on them. And the lost luggage report was in his name. So poor Jim had to go in person to claim the bags. He did so without complaint and got back on those hellish roads well after midnight. I was fast asleep.

So our five days were packed with hikes, usually followed by a soak in one of the outdoor hot tubs to soothe the sore legs. And the evenings meant mingling with interesting fellow adventure seekers over beautiful food and Argentine Malbec. As always at Explora, we’ve greatly enjoyed the company of both our fellow travelers and the highly competent guides and staff at this exceptional lodge.
We also did a rafting trip one day in a vehicle I’ve never seen before — a packraft. It’s inflatable, like a raft, but it’s shaped more like a kayak.

Tomorrow we will give our sore bodies a break and catch a flight back to Buenos Aires. We’ll spend a couple days there at a hotel with a nice pool before catching our flight back home. It’s been a month of great adventure — and finally checking off that seventh continent.

We were blessed with mostly fantastic hiking weather

Perfect hiking weather, sights, and conditions

Lago de Capri was named by Italian explorers, like many things in this area

Above Laguna Azul, the Blue Lagoon

Early explorers thought Fitz Roy was a volcano because it so often has a lone cloud clinging to the top

Hiking through lakeside forest

Hiking along these glacier-fed rivers, it’s so easy to fill your water bottle with the cleanest, coldest, tastiest water ever

We greatly enjoyed the company of Marjaneh and Jeff from San Francisco

Came across a family of woodpeckers doing their thing

Here I am with Stefanie (also from San Francisco), geared up in dry suits for the packrafting. If you were to fall into that water, barely above freezing, you’d be in serious trouble unless you stayed dry.

Our guides Cecilia and Diego lead the way on our rafting adventure. They only discovered during this ride that they were both former professional tango dancers lamenting that there was nobody to dance with here in El Chaltén!

We stopped for snacks after the raft trip, and Diego proved to be a truly full-service guide, here regaling us with a classic tango number

Our packrafting adventure ended at this scenic bridge

Our last hike took us to Laguna del Diablo. It’s clear now, but the weather would be all over the map soon enough — wind, rain, clouds, then clear and still again

The hike to Laguna del Diablo took us along the Rio del Diablo, often rushing loudly over rocks

On the way to Laguna del Diablo

The intermittent rain and sun kept rewarding us with amazing rainbows

Joaquin was our fun guide on the hike to Laguna del Diablo

Note the glacier up high that feeds this lake

The rainbow was so persistent this morning

One last Jim and one last rainbow!