lchin

I have read all the books and forums and have a dilemna. We will be in Argentina for 13 days in March. It is our first trip. We like to hike, my husband fly fishes and I do photography. We plan to stay in BA for 3 days, then fly to Bariloche, rent a car and stay somewhere around San Martin. We will drive around the area, visiting all the parks and hiking. My question is whether to take a few days to fly to El Calafate and take a bus to El Chalten. Is the hiking similar in El Chalten to the Bariloche area or is the scenery different? Is it worth all the extra travel time? We typically see a lot of a country in 2 weeks and I want to make sure we don't get bored in one place. At the same time, I want to make sure we see a variety of terrain since it is a long flight to Argentina and I don't know when or if we will be back. We have seen a lot of glaciers around the world (Alaska, Norway, Canada, China etc), so hiking glaciers is not a priority. Thank you for any advice you might have.

thursdaysd

Quite different. Bariloche is in the Lake District, greener and with lakes. El Chalten is in Patagonia proper, more mountainous. I haven't finished posting the photos from my SA trip yet, but there are some on my blog:
mytimetotravel.wordpress.com

rhbphoto

Just got back from Calafate and Chalten. Have been all over Argentina except for the lakes and Bariloche. The chocolate there is outstanding our guide said, Swiss immigrants. Along with Iguassu the Calafate (ie Pietro Moreno Glacier) and Chalten (Cerro Torre/Fitz Roy) areas are often called the don't miss areas of Argentina. It is a tough call if you have already seen and done mountains and glaciers other places. I too have trekked many mountains in many countries and new ones never get old. Maybe because it was just last week but the hike to Fitz Roy was really special, my fave out of three weeks in Patagonia. Great views all along the way and drinking out of pure glacial streams. The hiking is true mountain hiking and may be considered strenuous for some depending upon their conditioning, also the weather can change in minutes. My mt guide said the fishing in the rivers there was good. Most trails start right in the town. Chalten is a throw back trekker town, heck it didn't even exist before 1985. I can recommend the Senderios Hotel, a great B&B style hotel...lots of hostels and cabanas there also. Calafate is really the gateway of sorts to that region as the airport is there, bus terminal to Chalten and the starting point to visit the glaciers. If glaciers are of no interest just by pass Calafate, though the lake there is huge (possible fishing?). A word of advice if going to Calafate/Chalten be sure to have pesos before you arrive. Changing money was nearly impossible. Though many people take and sometimes welcome US$ the few ATMs had lines of 50ppl and the banks close early and ATM in the bus station in Chalten often runs out. As a pro photog I hope to get some images up soon and get the blog finished but editing 6000 images takes awhile. My 2cents, enjoy your trip.

thursdaysd

I did finally finish culling my photos. Results here:

http://kwilhelm.smugmug.com/Travel/South-America-2012