Flying from Bariloche to El Calafate presented a huge change of scenery - from the relatively lush lake-side town of Bariloche, to essentially landing on the moon - El Calafate is in the middle of the dry desert east of the Patagonian ice cap. We took the mini-bus to El Chalten from the airport and arrived there late that evening. We hadn't booked a hotel, and the first place we tried was full... bummer! But they directed us down the street where we settled into a very nice cabin with a small kitchenette. We ate at El Muro, which was the top-rated restaurant in the guidebook, and were not disappointed - probably the best food we had on the trip!!! As luck would have it, Melissa also met some old coworkers from Stanford... small world, huh?

The next day we hiked up to Laguna Torre, hoping to get a view of Cerro Torre, a mountain that fascinates every climber from around the world. Sadly, the weather was not great, and the mountain was covered by clouds the whole time (in fact, the whole 3 days we were there) - remaining elusive! The hike was nice enough, however, and we did get to see Fitz Roy at sunset from town (wow, El Chalten is set in a truly beautiful place!)

The next day we did another short hike, and caught up on sleep, visited the Chocolateria, etc :) On the sidewalks, we spotted Hazel Findley (a famous British climber) and Ueli Steck (the Swiss legend) - neat! The climbing season in town was quite abysmal so far, a sharp contrast to the previous year. That more or less concluded our stay in El Chalten, and in the morning we departed on the 8am bus (to eventually make our way to Puerto Natales in Chile, and Torres del Paine). I'd really like to go back to El Chalten for some climbing but the famously bad weather isn't exactly appealing...

Next: Torres del Paine

	Hiking to Laguna Torre (hoping to get a view of Cerro Torre)	El Chalten	El Chalten as seen from the hill nearby. Pretty location!

			Cerro Torre is directly ahead in the background. Unfortunately, it was constantly obscured by clouds (for 3 days..)

	The enchanted forest	The most we saw of Cerro Torre (half of it is in the cloud)

			Fitz Roy!

	The best view we got of Fitz Roy

		El Chalten in the best weather we saw!	Flowers next to our cabin