Iguazu

Here are we at the last stage of our trip to Argentina. After Patagonia it was time to hit the Iguazu waterfalls. The change in the weather was spectacular and it was super hot and humid in the jungle. They have a very specific rain forest there because of the crossing of rio Iguazu and rio Parana (the border between Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil - you see it from Puerto Iguazu and it's cool). Unfortunately, the human kind is not well known for its intelligence and only maybe 5 to 10 % of the original surface of the rain forest is left (and of course it's in the national parks). We went to both the Argentinian and the Brazilian sides of the waterfalls and it was amazing. There's a lot more to do and see in the Argentinian side (you can also take a shower under a waterfall if you take a boat ride!) because you are under and in the waterfalls. On the other hand, from Brazil there is a very nice panoramic view but you have to pay extra if you want to do something else besides the short tour. We also went to Ciudad del Este in Paraguay to see the free zone and it was a strange experience, maybe because we don't like to get bothered by people every 2 meters trying aggressively to sell us something... We also saw Itaupu, one of the biggest dams in the world and it was spectacular. Enough talk, more pics!

El Chalten

El Chalten was another big destination and we decided to take it easy (+ we had some time after our short stay in Torres del Paine) so we spent 8 days there. The bus trip from El Calafate took us approximately 3 hours and we arrived very early. After getting a map from the Tourist Info point in the bus station we started our usual hostel search. Most of them were either too expensive or messy but we found a nice compromise in Hostel del Lago. We checked in and went for a short (which turned out to be not so short) walk to Chorillo del Salto and Laguna Capri via mirador del Fitz Roy.

On our 2nd day we decided to camp in Poincenot (base camp for the Fitz Roy climbers). We went there for noon, set up our tent and after a light lunch we went for a walk to the Piedras Blancas mirador (a very beautiful glacier less than an hour walking from the camping). After that we were ready to go all the way up to laguna de Los Tres (the view point for Fitz Roy). The weather was very good (hot and sunny) and it was full of people. We stayed there for some time and went back to the camping for dinner.

We woke up at 4 am the next morning to try to catch the sunrise. Unfortunately for us there were some clouds and it wasn't perfect condition but it was still nice to be at laguna de Los Tres with almost no people around... We went back to the camping, had breakfast and started another long trek - through the Madre y Hija lakes to the sendero de Cerro Torre and laguna Torre. It was cool and very sunny/hot!

We then chilled in El Chalten for 2 or 3 days before going on another long trek. El Chocolateria is definitely worth the visit (their triple Alfojor and chocolate brownie are the real deal!) and there are some nice views from miradores de los Condores and de las Aguilas.

And our last trek was to laguna Toro, a camping site on the way to Passo del Viento and the South Patagonian Ice Field. We never reached the ice field of course but there was a small glacier near the lake and very few people on the trek and in the camp site. We went to Loma del Pliegue Tumbado on the way back and the views were amazing. It was a nice finish of our stay in El Chalten.