El Calafate is a small town of 6.000 on the southern border of Lake Argentino but many hours apart from any bigger town. It is named after a common Patagonian fruit, the Calafate. On holiday times the city is crowded with tourists. Out of season I guess it will be depressing.

Our next destination, El El Chaltén, lies 220 km apart on the other side of the lengthy Lago Viedma. Although the roads are paved and excellent You will need a whole day even if You aren’t a photographer. The changing lights and landscape are majestic and You have to stop and wonder, freezing from the constantly strong winds. And if You approach El Chaltén for hours alongside Lake Viedma the mountains start rising again, glacier tongues outpour into the lake and lonely Estancias can be recognised by their poplars. The blue first range of the Andes slowly creeps closer until You become aware that the largest massiv of granite rock and ice is Your destination: the Fitz Roy Range. El Chaltén’s sole purpose is to serve as starting point for the touristic admiration of the breath taking of theses miracles of nature such as Fitz Roy and his surrounding mountains, the glaciers, Cerro Torre, the lights and the winds.

Last Gallery 24 Bosque Petrificado La Leone Next Gallery 26 Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre