There's nothing like giving your body a shock every now and then, a bit like rolling in the snow after having a sauna. Arriving in El Chalten from Buenos Aires was a bit like that - a constant 25 degrees or so down to about 5, a few million people down to about 5, that kind of thing!
The 3 hour flight down was fabulous - completely clear skies to give a view of the whole of Argentina spread out below me and what looked like barely any signs of development, just complete wilderness edged by leather textured sea. To break myself into the (nearly) Antarctic conditions gently I took a stroll around the town of El Calafate (named after the berry that once you have tried it guarantees your return to Patagonia, or so the legend goes) and down by the lagoons on the edge of Lago Argentino. The lagoons are a bird sanctuary and home to lots of birds including flamingos! I had absolutely no idea that flamingos lived in cold climates, but apparently they do and there were quite a lot of them chilling out around El Chalten. It reminded me of the first time that I saw flamingos in the wild in the tropical Caribbean waters of Isla Holbox off Mexico... a completely different experience, but still surreal to see such crazy coloured birds in turquoise waters, they don't look real somehow!
The hostel in El Chalten was cozy with some really nice people, including quite a few Argentinians. It's really nice to see people travelling and exploring their own country, so often the only people you meet are only other travellers!
Day 2 in El Chalten was incredible. An early pick up took me out into the Parque Nacional des Glaciers, home of many glaciers including the famous Perito Moreno glacier. It was absolutely incredible to come round the curve in the road and see the face of the glacier on the other side of the lake. After a while looking out at the face of the glacier from the opposite side of the lake and listening to it crack and groan as it moved (up to a metre and a half a day) in the biting wind we took a small boat over to the glacier itself to trek on the ice itself. Having never worn crampons in my life it was quite an experience! We hiked for quite a while on the moraine and in the woods at the edge of the glacier and then right out into the middle of the glacier itself. It was completely otherworldly, almost like a lunar landscape and the intensity of the blue in the many crevasses was incredibly beautiful. Amazingly we even found a sign of life in the middle of the glacier, a tiny bug, must not feel the cold as much as me! The weather was all sorts - rain (not good), snow (actually OK) and a bit of bright/dare I say it, sun! Luckily when we stopped for lunch it was in a bright ish phase and the location on the edge of a lake in the middle of the glacier couldn't have been more perfect. Refilling the water bottles with the seemingly bright blue water was amazing. Absolutely fantastic day and if you ever find yourself in the area ensure that you do the "Big Ice" trek!