The Fitz Roy

So we completed our second trek, I´m sorry to say that the weather was perfect and apparently we are now in better shape than the first debacle! The Fitz Roy is a huge peak overlooking the town of El Chalten. El Chalten is this lazy little town huddled in the mountains. It is a rock climbers paradise, with great treks around the Fitz Roy.

A lesson learned from last time was not to pack while under the influence, so when I relized at dinner that two liter bottles of beer would definetly be considered under the influence, I put the packing off until the next morning. Well, after several more liters of beer, ¨morning¨meant mid afternoon! So, we kinda got a late start, late enough to not getting a bus ticket out of El Chalten before siesta.



I don´t know if siesta has been covered for the gringos. Siesta is the time after lunch when EVERTHING is closed. The closing lasts anywhere from 3 to 5 hours, depending on the store keeper and how much they like their siesta. The siesta phenomeona truely sneaks up on you everyday, because it is always lost in any planning!

Back to the trek, since Sarah and I had to wait until five to get our tickets, Sibylle and Sebastian went ahead with our tent to set it up as the first day was a four hour hike. We finally get our tickets and head to the trailhead and to our surprise Sibylle and Sebastian are sitting there. They had gone two hours down the wrong trail!! Hilarious!! The actual trailhead was on the other side of town!!

We gathered together and found that we could make a two hour hike to Lago Capri and camp there, so off we went. Beautiful evening, the trail was uphill all the way, but it wasn´t that bad. Yeah I was winded when I got to the campsite, but I felt pretty good - a master of the two hour hike!! It was a beautiful campsite with an incredible sunset over the lake.

The next day we had an hour hike to the base of the Fitz Roy. We arrived easily and debated to make the accent to the actual base of the peak. Sarah and Sibylle wisely decided to move on to the next campsite which was three hours away. The moron twins, Sebastian and I, had to go up. We left our packs, and began the climb. STRAIGHT UP SWITCH BACKS!! PAIN!! The park information said it would take 2 hours to get up and 1.5 hours to get down. Not these idiots, 1 hour 15 minutes to get up, 45 minutes to get down!! We were insane, something took over us and we were passing people all the way. It was impressive, and a bit crazy because one wrong step and it was a long way down!

We get to the top and the Fitz Roy looms overhead in all her majesty. In front of her is a frozen lake, yes we where above the snow line in short sleeves, incredibile!! We walked out on the lake, solid! We then walked around a smaller peak and the site took my breath away. A huge tourquise lake fed by a glacier. It was incredible, I couldn´t take my eyes off of it. We had to go, we needed to make camp before nught fall. So down we went, at a high rate of speed. We got to the bottom and my worst dreams had been developing and it had become an issue. Every man´s worst nightmare - chaffing!! I got to my pack and frantically looked for the Gold Bond, AHHHH!! Not in the pack!! So here I am, the chaf has taken hold and I´m three hours away from camp. Only thing to do is suck it up and push foward.

And I did, ignoring any pain and kept going. We are now into hour 5 of the hike, with an hour to go and the trail turns up again. I´m completely spent, going uphill and chaffing....kill me now!! We make it and I instantly sit down. Then to the tent for some sort of relief. The rest of the evening was spent in the tent since walking has become and issue! Luckily the kitchen was set up right next to my tent door - perfect!! Dinner was served, and I slipped into my bag hoping for the best the next day. By some miracle, and the use of some unknown ointment, things for my boys where much better the next day. So off we went down the mountain, the problem was there seemed to be alot of up again. After the previous days climb, my up muscles where no longer working, so it was quite the struggle. It took us four hours to get out, not the three we where told. Straight to the cold beers and life was good for a bit.

We swung by the bus place to pay for our tickets. In El Chalten there is only one ATM, it is ussually out of money or broken. When we left on our trek it was broken. So Christian, the bus guy, told us no problem, I´ll hold the reservation. No such luck, the bus leaving that night was full and they had sold our reservation, AUGH!!! The good thing was that the ATM had money and worked! So we went and got money while Christian worked on our problem. We ended up getting a ticket for 7 AM the next morning to El Calfate, where we came from. Then catching a 2 PM bus ride to El Bolson. Done, get us out of here!!

We get to El Calfate and prepare for our 32 hour bus ride to El Bolson. We buy a ton of snack food and drink and off we went. The bus stopped randomly at several eateries in random towns, we think owned by family members! The bus broke down twice. Once in the middle of the night with a blown tire. And once in the middle of the day with a broken belt. Which was hilarious to watch them fix! We where in the middle of nowhere, the drivers where picking up belts holding them up to the engine to check for the proper fit and shaking their heads and putting the belts back down. They finally got the right one, made some adjustments and we where on our way. We finally made it to El Bolson, but that´s a story for another day. I hope everyone is enjoying life, I know we are!