Hitchhiking to El Chaltén...

We're going to see if we can hitchhike to El Chalten which is about 200km away. The last time we tried hitchhiking was at Bariloche, coming back from Companario.  We didn't have any success.  I'm not sure if when we showed a little leg if that scared the drivers or our thumbs just don't have the proper curvature.  Anyway, we're willing to give it another go here. ;)

We didn't start hitchhiking till well after noon time as we were busy working on finally getting some travel insurance.  I'm not to pleased that there is not alacart options as I don't care about trip cancellation and some of the other options.  I want health coverage and equipment loss.  For now I have 1 months coverage with WorldNomads.

Back to hitchhiking, so we got out on the road when it was nice and toasty and when most people would have already gone to El Chaltén.  We walked about 3km to a control station as our hostel reception lady told us to walk there if we didn't get picked up.  There was a whole bunch of backpackers there hitchhiking as well.  We despaired a little until we realized that they were going in different directions to us.  We had a nice big cardboard sign that we proudly displayed for 45min and then this nice couple stopped and picked us up.  The guy drove at 140km and we made the 3hr trip in about 2hrs.  We also stopped a few places for pics.  Since the sun was overhead my pics are not that great of Cerro(Mtn) Fitz Roy.

El Chaltén, what a magnificent location for town nestled in the valley below the towering spires of Mt. Fitz Roy and its cousins. The town is small and I was told it was a hippie town. I discovered that its full of tourist from Argentina and around the world. It did not have a hippie feel at all, rather a very outdoorsy type town where you get to know everyone. There is some great trekking that can be done, and there is rockclimbing (sport) and some really good bouldering, which we gladly donned our shoes for.

Enjoying the life on the bluff above the town!

Night shot of big boulder near their climbing gym.

Whenever we got hungry there were Calafate berries begging to be picked.  They have little seeds in them, but are mostly sweet.  The best, was to pick a bunch of them and then have a Calafate party in my mouth. :)

When not eating berries, we ate some good pasta at a Pastaria shop with some friends we met while trekking.

We did 2 day treks which completed almost all the non permit and non-backcountry things you can do there.