Argentina: Patagonia, Buenos Aires and Mendoza

Our first big trip together, way back in 2011. First stop was A hotel in Buenos Aires. We spent a few days exploring the city. Some really funky neighbourhoods (barrios), although we weren’t really blown away from a shopping perspective. The grand boulevards, opera house and European planning/architecture are fun to soak in however. Ate at a lot of parrillas (steakhouse) and dulce de leche gelato. We then flew down to Patagonia. Here we were blown away. We landed in El Calafete. There we headed to Eolo, the splurge property of the trip, for valentines day. Beautiful rooms, with a small pool and gorgeous library. The views towards the barren rolling landscape was out of this world. The unique colors struck my memory. There is a profound sense of space being at this property. The food was probably the weakest link but we really enjoyed our short stay. We visited the Petro merino glacier, also very stunning watching the ice break off and drop into the lake. Then we took a bus over to El Chalten. The approach to El Chalten with views towards fitz-roy are epic. A small charming hiking town, lots of good spots to get a tasty casual meal. We stayed in a property called Hosteria kaulem, it was comfortable and spacious, nice common area a good choice for two hikers. We did day hikes to the base of Fitz Roy and to a viewpoint to see Cerro Torre. We signed up for a long day hike onto the glacier at the baes of cerro torre, including a few zip line stream crossings and an intro to ice climbing. Highly recommended activity, but a hard day, our group consisted of a couple Swiss SAR personnel and an ultramarathoner (who somehow managed to carry all her worldly belongings on this hike!) needless to say, we were feeling it the most.

We had another short stop in Buenos Aires, before one yatri had to get back to work. I went on to Mendoza, visited a few wineries on a bike tour and then headed home myself. Was a bit disappointed with Mendoza, views to the Andes were poor while I was there, and the bike tour consisted of me avoiding getting run over by large trucks far too often. I probably should have gone to Iguazu falls instead but that seemed like more of a couple’s destination anyway -- something to come back for.

Patagonia was clearly the highlight for us. The landscapes and mountains there are truly out of this world. The big decision was between Torres del paine and fitz roy. We chose the latter based upon day hikes rather than trek, less crowded (friends had just come back with bed bugs from W), better foods on the less than luxurious side of things. All seemed fairly crucial for a new relationship and first trip together. Plus Buenos Aires seemed more interesting as a destination then Santiago. Next time in South America now that we have a more generous travel budget we are definitely doing torres del paine and Atacama desert in some more upscale lodging.