Hello, Patagonia!

We thought that we’d be short on light when we arrived at around 7PM to the airport at El Calafate. However, after taking a bus to town, walking and checking in to our hostel, and going grocery shopping, we still caught the sunset at 10PM! Our time in this beautiful town was short and sweet – limited basically to our night at the hostel and a visit to the Perito Moreno glacier.

Basically, for our first 24 hours in Patagonia we were wowed by the views. From the airplane, Fitz Roy teased us on the horizon. On the bus ride to town, Lago (lake) Argentina shone a bright glacial blue in the evening light. In the grocery store parking lot, the sun set over the mountains, casting oranges and purples and pinks over the town of El Calafate below. The glacier was a bright blue under snow-capped mountains and a clear blue sky.

Then on the bus to El Chaltén, we felt slightly at home as we rode past the Eastern Patagonian Andes, with the sun setting over them, much like in the Eastern Sierra Nevada. Then finally when we arrived to El Chaltén, Fitz Roy and its accompanying needles towered overhead. A mountain king among kings reminding us of why we chose to come here.