Date of Entry: April 6th 2016
Date of Writing: May 22nd 2016, Blue House Hostel, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The day after saying goodbye to 6 friends I decide there’s only one thing to cheer me up; you guessed it, a waterfall. And lucky for me there’s one just about 4 km out of town, so I can have a lazy morning and still have lots of time to get to El Chorrillo.
It’s into the early afternoon by the time I get going, cutting on to the main street of el Chalten and following it all the way out to the edge of town where it turns from paved to gravel. To my left is the beginning of the trail to Laguna De Los Tres, one of the most majestic places I’ve ever visited, but that’s not a hike for this half day so I follow the winding gravel road around a corner of land which reveals incredible views of distant mountains and rushing glacial rivers sprawled out before me.
I follow the road for a decent chunk of the walk until I find a little path to the left which is well sign posted to lead you to the waterfall, following that I end up in sparse brush, any trees left beginning to lose their leaves. I don’t know if I can express just how beautiful patagonia is in autumn.
After a little less than an hour of walking, dancing, singing my lungs out, and generally enjoying the crisp cool air in shorts,I reach the parking lot which has a few tour buses in it, then head down to the waterfall itself, which is very pretty, although crowded by a large group of photo tourists, with camera’s so big you barely notice the people. No matter, I skip and hop over some rocks closer and closer to the falls and then duck down behind one of the bigger boulders so as not to ruin their photos because I’m not a total jerk.
I spend about an hour at the falls where swimming is at the least frowned upon, at the most prohibited, just enjoying the beauty of this incredible place as the sky gets bluer and bluer. Eventually the cold starts to creep in so I figure it’s time to move agin heading back to Chalten still singing and dancing and no doubt scaring some other people on the trail.
On the way back I find another path up on the right hand side of the road, which leads over a small hill and gives even more impressive views of the valleys rivers and mountains back the way your coming from. I suggest taking it and it will lead you back to town along the trailhead to Laguna de los Tres. Along my way I find some kelp geese in the river and lots more stunning views.
Back in the parking lot is the awesome mystery machine, painted that way by wicked campers, a cool chilean company that rents out camper vans and If I ever came back to chile/argentina with friends it would definitely be something I think about doing, especially in Patagonia, where having a car and a place to sleep would open so many doors. Tomorrow though the real treks begin, and the true splendour of El Chalten will become clear to all of you.
