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19/03/2014

Reaching El Chaltén the hard way

Once in Argentina we still needed to get from the customs buildings across the wonderfully named Lago del Desierto and with the weather deteriorating there was some uncertainty about whether the twice weekly (maybe more often - uncertainty rules here!) boat might be able to reach us. Sitting on the shore with Jefferson's binoculars (a Brazilian travel agent checking out a new route) we could see huge waves on the lake and a storm blowing down from a glacier to our West making it hard to even stand on the shore.

We were really relieved when we finally saw the boat coming an hour and a half late with a slightly stressed looking crew. The bikes and trailer were quickly tied down at the back and the boat aimed for some sheltered water. Later on the captain offered us a lift the 37km to El Chalten in the back of his pick up to avoid the bad weather - Argentinians are really friendly! I sat in the back surrounded by bikes and bags while Leo and Isa squashed in the front seat.

We finally found a room in the dark at about 10.30 in El Chalten and crashed out feeling wind burned and exhausted.

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