Thinking Allowed: Mountain tourists

While we generally try to avoid overly crowded /visited areas it was hard to pass up a visit to one of the more popular Argentinian mountain towns. El Chalten is a town intentionally created, a year after my own entry into the world, to resolve a border dispute with Chile. The town was populated and deemed a 'hiking destination.' It was interesting to me to get to see what a town created for outdoor pursuits would look like. For such a small town there were a surprising number of cute eateries and breweries. Which makes sense as exercise really works up an appetite. I was glad to see that the town had its own local vibe. There were always gangs of local children biking around, kicking soccer balls, and generally seeming to have a grand time leading their own lives apart from their parents in the safety of the small town alone in a vast region. The cost of visiting El Chalten was relatively high - but it was nice to see that at least some of that money was making its way back into the community which boasted a beautiful playground and community center. El Chalten, as per the creation plan, was perfectly situated for amazing hiking (or climbing! or kayaking!) right from your door. We lucked out to get three days of beautiful warm sunny weather and took full advantage of our luck to explore the mountains and pick and eat cherries to our hearts content.

El Calafate had a very different vibe to El Chalten. Though perched on a glacial blue lake, the town itself is very much nestled in a desert. The broad dusty valley is dotted with the sprawl of its success. The town today seems to revolve around the tourism to Perito Moreno glacier and to a lesser extent the Calafate berry the town is named after. The centre of town is overrun by competing tour groups that give the main strip a less appealing vibe. On the other hand, I probably didn't stay long enough to really find the local haunts as everyone we met seems to have a love story to tell of their lives in El Calafate. It seems to be a town that once seen is never forgotten and often never left. The residents of El Calafate were the highlight of our visit. Everyone we met went out of their way to make us feel at home. People would stop to give us lifts - which is incredible given that we were a group of 8! Second best after the El Calfatians was the Perito Moreno glacier. A rare glacier that is not shrinking, it affords spectacular views of itself. We all thought it was insane how many different ways you could view the glacier- via a system of extensive walkways, via boat, by foot, by kayak, by helicopter.... We stuck to the boardwalks and got to enjoy a peaceful morning watching and hearing ice calve. I tried to bring glaciers to life by having children do some research on glaciers, visit the glacier museum, and by watching the Chasing Ice documentary. Glaciers are pretty amazing and interesting so it was easy to centre our learning around them. Although I joke that Argentina is so far away we had to take a more tourist route as we might never get that chance again - legends say otherwise. Legend has it that those who try the Calafate berry are destined to return to Patagonia. Guess we may be seeing these mountains again one day!