Last day of the year…
I am since two days in El Chalten, Patagonia, South of Argentina. The village is small but relatively famous because of the numerous trekking opportunities in the surrounding mountains.
The morning is a bit gloomy: the weather is grey and rainy, I am feeling down. I slept pretty well in quantity, but bad in quality: my friend Miguel is a snorer! Besides, I have been woken up at around 6.00 am by the departure of the guy who was in the upper bed (a 50-year-old French organic farmer and baker, with whom I had a very nice chat yesterday), and at the top of it all, I remember I dreamed a lot…This kind of dreams that move a lot of things in the subconscious and this kind of sleep from which you wake up with the feeling of having cogitated a lot and in the end not being rested. Fortunately, I had nothing planned in the morning!
I go first to the bus station, stopping on the way at the bakery to buy a big breakfast, to comfort myself. Outside, the rain is falling continously, everything has a sad face.
…
That’s actually later that day that the “magic” happened…
In the middle of the afternoon, the weather is starting to change: little by little the sun is bringing warmth and light and this literally galvanizes me!
I feel like going walking. I choose a track with a “mirador” (viewpoint) which seems to be accessible within the amount of time I have (between 3 and 4 hours return). Thus I leave.
On the horizon the top of the mountains is visible, I am telling myself there is probably a nice view not far from the village, a bit more up. So hop! Without a second thought, I am going hiking, while it is almost 5.00 pm! At this time of the year, the sunset is at around 10.00 / 10.30 pm, so I have a little time.
I follow the trail, without knowing exactly on which side of the valley the viewpoint is directed to. I walk briskly, I have such a revival of energy and motivation! I really feel the weather has a great potential for a beautiful panorama.
I climb, little by little; I meet only walkers who are going down, which is pretty normal at this time of the day. I discuss with a few people on the way, they tell me the view is indeed gorgeous at the top. At that moment, I don’t want to go the top, I aim for the first mirador only, because I obviously don’t have time to do the entire track, going to the top and coming back, before dark. The good news is, from the way I am in, I can already see the mountains very well!
The path is muddy. As I left with sandals instead of hiking shoes, I have mud between the toes 😉
I reach the targetted mirador at 7.00 pm. From there, I have a nice view, especially as the sky has been cleared up. I sit on a stone, take a few pictures and stay a bit to contemplate the mountain range, feeling happy to have come here and grateful to myself to have followed my intuition.
At this moment, a young guy who was walking down stops beside me and tells me that there, at the very top, the panorama is “fantastic”. Even more beautiful that the one I have before my eyes right now. I acknowledge, but still think it is not reasonable for me to go up there now, given the time needed for going and returning. The guy (he is Canadian, if I remember well) says, well, you can reach the summit within an hour, “of course it is up to your pace, but it is feasible, it is really fantastic up there…”.
A quick calculation. Yes, if I hurry up, I can come back to El Chalten before the night, it can pass.
GO.
And I will never regret this decision.
It takes me 45 minutes to get there.
After mud, snow!
At the end of the ascent, I remember that I actually carry a torch with me, in my backpack. A small manually recheargeable one that I keep there, just in case. I am more organized than I think!
I thus realize that I left quickly, with sandals, having in mind an easy walk of a couple of hours, and ended up the full track, ending in the snow! Fortunately I have everything I needed: water, warm clothes, torch.
At the top of the mountain, the evening light is absolutely magnificent. There is not a single cloud left, the blue of the sky is cosmic blue, as pure as if we were in space; the ground with these rocks bathed in an incredible light makes me feel like I am on the moon. Nearly supernatural.
And the scenery I discover at the very end is simply splendid. I can’t believe it. It is so beautiful and so peaceful at the same time; no wind, no sound, nobody else. Only before my eyes: Mount Fitz Roy and all its mountain range, Cerro Torre & Co., all of them illuminated, standing out majestically on the clear sky, the lake further down, the glacier that forms the junction between the snowy part of the rocky mounts and the strech of water. Everything radiates beauty and silence. I feel the entire presence of the landscape.
What a gift for a 31st of December!!
I still can’t believe my eyes.
A few photos. A snowman. The shade is coming already and suddenly it gets much colder.
I have the feeling I have witnessed a moment of grace: before there were some clouds on the peaks (I could see them when climbing up, and that’s what people who were walking back down were talling me as well), and a few minutes after my arrival the sun is hidden behind the mountain…
Wow.
None of this was planned or anticipated. I left on an impulse, with an intuition, I have been considerably rewarded.
I am thinking at my friends, in Europe. It is 8.00 pm here, midnight in Europe, they are probably craking open a bottle of champagne to celebrate the new year, at that exact moment.
I don’t stay too long, even if I have a lamp I prefer going back with daylight. It takes me two hours to go back to the village, which is pretty fast. On the road, I feel light. I am not hungry, not thirsty, satisfied with this truly “fantastic” moment that has been offered to me.
Now, even if the sun is gone, the evening is clear: it is a beautiful summer evening. What is nice at this latitude, is that dusk lasts long.
Back to my hostel, I have a very simple meal (soup and pasta) with some friends that I met there. This year neither champagne nor “petit four” nor glitter for New Year’s Eve, this time I had dirty sandals and a dehydrated soup, but I had glitter in the eyes…
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