El Chalten

Today we would hang out in El Chalten. We went and dumped our gray water and cassette at the dump station and went to drop off laundry. We then drove to the visitor center parking to hike to the Mirador de los Condores overlooking the town and Fitz Roy. 

We had to pay entrance to access this hike but because we paid 2 days ago at Perito Moreno glacier we only paid half price which was still $53.

The hike was pretty easy and the kids ran up the hill. We saw condors perched on rocks.

They are massive even from far away. It was cold in the wind but fine while hiking.

I saw a familiar campervan pulled into the bus station and texted Werner who we had met in northern Peru and he said he has just arrived in El Chalten. Small world.

We hiked down and the kids checked out the visitor center while I filled up water.

We drove to the playground and let the kids play while I worked on taxes. We were there for a few hours for them to eat lunch. Christine and the kids met some Americans from Florida on a year off traveling South America. They had four kids and both husband and wife were ER doctors. While I worked on taxes Werner and his wife dropped by and said hello. They had taken the road south from Bariloche and said it was terribly potholed.

I finished my business taxes after a couple hours and we went to pick up laundry and buy groceries and went to find a campsite. The kids wanted to be at the dump station to be close to the German kids in the expedition truck but it had a homeless camp vibe. 

We went back to the campsite near the visitor center and clouds moved in over Fitz Roy.

The kids and I went to the river and saw large paw prints. Either a fox/coyote or puma.

We had dinner and it started drizzling. 

We head to the border tomorrow and Chile.