Patagonia Flat or Midwest Flat?

There are a variety of ways that you can visit Patagonia, but the trip I took showed us a lot of the area with a big variety of landscapes, wildlife, local culture, and meeting a lot of interesting people. Many of the trips follow a similar itinerary to the one we took, but traveling with Thorarinn Jonsson, Thor-Photography.com, and Nicolas Vasquez, FarSouthExpeditions.com, proved to be an excellent choice.

The meeting place was at El Calafate, Argentina. There is no easy way to get there, but flying through Buenos Aires required a change of airports from Ministro Pistarini International airport - EZE to Jorge Newbery - AEP airport. This is not a short trip and takes about an hour. The airline recommends you leave four hours between flights because you may hit traffic along the way.

Our first stop was the Hotel Posado Los Alamos. The top floor rooms are fantastic with beamed ceilings overlooking the courtyards. The restaurant’s food in the lobby is good, and you’ll probably want to use the wi-fi in the lobby. They have a gift shop with many beautiful souvenirs. The prices in Argentina will surprise you. I bought a beautiful wool sweater for only $40 USD. There is a huge dining hall and spa across the street that is part of the hotel. Breakfast and dinner there was awesome. There are a lot of restaurants and shops downtown, just a few blocks from the hotel and easily walkable.

One of the best things about Patagonia is the dogs. They are everywhere! They roam freely, and are taken care of by the locals. We had to step over one to get into a restaurant, and walking into a roadside stop, they were occupying the chairs. We’re not talking small dogs. There are some rather log Pyrenees, mountain dogs, and other large breeds, but they are all very friendly. I love dogs so I was in heaven! Also, there are wild foxes everywhere. In this area, there is quite a bit of wildlife, but also, much of the livestock roams freely. It’s not unusual to come across a herd of cattle standing in the middle of the road or guanaco herds along the road. Much like deer, the guanacos tend to run right in front of the vehicle. The only live stock that is fenced in is the horses and the sheep, but the other wildlife jumps the fences to join them.

We drove from El Calafate to the Perito Merino National Park to see the glacier. This glacier, like many others is retreating faster than expected. It’s 30km and can be seen from one of the many walkways built around it. We were treated to the birth of an iceberg, catching the falling ice wasn’t easy. It is surrounded by many mountains, small wildlife, and birds. We also saw Rheas, small ostrich like birds, along the way.

Our next stop was to photograph Mt. Fitz Roy. There are a variety of great locations to pull over and photograph this mountain, but catching a herd of guanacos in front of it made it special. We stopped here on the way to Chile as well to catch it at sunrise. One of the important things to remember is that Patagonia doesn’t want anyone leaving trash behind, and that includes things like apple cores and other seed bearing refuse. They do not want invasive species being inadvertently planted in their territory.

Continuing on, we arrived at a Hotel Lunajuim in El Chalten. This was the highlight of the trip. Many will tell you that the hike to Laguna Cerro Torres is a flat hike. They lie! This hike will get you in shape if you’re not already in shape. We left the hotel at 1:30 a.m. Yes, that’s in the middle of the night. We traveled a short distance in the bus to the trailhead and then set out on a 6 1/2 mile hike (miles, it’s 10.46 kilometers), and we quickly found out this is a medium difficulty hike, especially when you’re packing 25 lbs. of camera gear and another 5 lbs. of water. It was quite chilly, but hiking this keeps you warm. This is not a flat hike for the mobility impaired. There was quite a discussion about Patagonia flat versus Midwest flat. We scaled rocks using chains to pull ourselves up and down. It has an elevation change that is significant. The reward was magnificent. Arriving in the dark, we got the best locations for our day of shooting. Not long after arriving, we had numerous groups show up behind us. While standing there waiting on the sun to rise, I was shivering. Once the sun came up, it was an incredible site of the mountains in the distance. Around noon, we started working our way back but stopped many times to get shots of the river and the mountain framing it through the trees. There is a second path that is flatter and goes along the river, but the end is just as much up and down as the other trail, and the flatter track is longer. By the time we got back, the temperature had risen forty degrees and we were quite warm. The hotel does laundry quite quickly. I was glad as I was not putting those stinky clothes back in the suitcase. That first night some found a local pub for hamburgers and beer while others tried the dining room. The second night was the same. Just a note, if you buy a bottle of wine, the hotel will keep the leftovers in the fridge for you.

The next day we found a beautiful waterfall a short distance from the road. We also went to a valley where the condors fly and found numerous large birds flying around. Traveling onto Chile, we stopped at a place called La Leone. For anyone familiar with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, this is where they were captured. There is a lot of memorabilia inside the snack shop as well as clean restrooms.

Heading to Chile, you have to cross the border from Argentina, of course, and there are a number of foxes that they foster around their building. Entering the country, they will give you a slip of paper. Take a picture of it and keep it with your passport. You’re going to need if you’re coming back to Argentina. Our destination was Torres Del Paine National Park. The first day in the park our guide, Nico, delivered the pumas promised. We found Amarga close to Lake Amarga, and she blessed us with a trip right through our tour group passing 5-10 feet from most of us as she made her way across the road to the lake. Pumas blend into the landscape and are very difficult to find.

The next day was just as fruitful as the previous day and we were blessed with Petaca (Petaka), the famous puma from BBC specials. She was up on a ridge with another puma, but made her way down the ridge. We also found a huge herd of guancos that modeled quite nicely for us.

Our hotel, Hosteria Pehoe, was located on an island requiring about 100 yard walk from the parking lot to the hotel island. This place is a bit rustic, and I guess a few of my fellow travelers struggled with hot water availability. The food in the restaurant is filling, and part of the group went to a restaurant just down the road informing us it was very good. There is no wi-fi in the room, you must go to the dining hall. There are wild foxes that run the island, and scratching one behind the ears will earn you a friendship. The overlook behind the hotel is the best part, and you can get beautiful shots of the mountains behind. There is also a beach, and you can catch the foxes playing there. I caught quite a few birds, including pygmy owls, right outside of my room. A few other shorter hikes will take you to the top of the ridges surrounding the hotel.

On the third day, we found two pumas who were feasting on a kill. Many areas around the park are private ranches and you can pay to stay and photograph from there. That does not include a ticket to the park. We spent a lot of time at a variety of sites alongside the road shooting amazing reflections and mountain ranges over the many lakes. These should not be underestimated.

The last adventure of the trip was a boat ride on a catamaran to a different glacier. This involves a 2 mile hike to the boat from the parking lot. The boat, the Lago Grey, took us out onto Lago Grey Lake which surrounds Glacier Grey. This gave us opportunities for a lot of photography around the glacier. The area has a lot of dead trees as the lake was the border of a huge forest fire some years back.

This trip isn’t scheduled for 2026, but interest is being collected for 2027. It’s definitely a once in a lifetime experience.

Notes:

One of the travelers stayed overnight in at My Pod Capsule Boutique and said it’s perfect for a quick overnight stay at the EZE airport in Argentina.

There is a campground at Leguna Cerro, but it’s 5 miles into the hike. You’ll be carrying a lot to stay overnight. The restroom is literally a boxed in outhouse, not for the squeamish. The hike and the campground were not in cellphone coverage.

I flew on Aerolineas Argentinas out of Miami, and they changed my flights weekly. At one point, they had me switching airports on a layover of only one hour. They agreed to change back at no cost.

Taxis prefer cash. Ask if they take cards before you assume. Most everything is cashless.

Prices, especially for souvenirs, are incredibly low compared to the states.

Weight limits are very low for luggage, including carry-on. The guys’ backpacks were weighed, but I acted like mine weighed very little and it was never checked. I guess they thought a girl couldn’t swing that kind of weight around. ;-) One carry-on. Also, our bus was limited in the amount of storage for both luggage and camera gear so we were asked to bring a medium size suitcase. The hotel in El Calafate stored luggage for some people who were traveling onto another site.

Argentina uses Argentine pesos while Chile uses Chilean pesos.

Argentina (type c and type I) and Chile (type C and type L) do not use the same electrical devices. While type C is common, the posts on my adapter were too fat and didn’t work in Chile. Our guide was accommodating and loaned me an adapter with smaller posts.