El Chalten rules -remix

I thought I'd add to this one because I was rushed and had a poor internet connection...
We crossed the border on Saturday and ended the journey in El Calafate, Argentina. We had a rainy, whirlwind tour to the Glacier Perito Moreno in Los Glaciers National Park on Saturday afternoon upon arrival. People call this one the big brother to Glacier Gray that we saw in Torres del Paine. They are all part of this huge southern ice cap on the continent - the biggest outside of polar regions. We went on a boat to get close to the glacier and to get out of the rain which was actually snow only 1000ft above us. It would have been nice to see the glacier on a nicer day for the full effect of how far back into the the valley this thing goes, but it was still great. More time and the ability to sit still rather than dodging freezing raindrops would have allowed for more calving events. About every 1 or 20 minutes a huge chunk of ice breaks off into the water. It sounds like thunder and creates a huge wave in the lake. Surprising all of the lakes we have seen have few icebergs floating around for the amount that breaks off. They mush melt fairly quickly. Moreno Glacier is 20 stories high and is currently forming a dam at a narrow section of the Lake Argentina. After the water builds up on one side of the dam for a long enough, it eventually breaks under the pressue. That would be great to see. When we saw it there was about a 3m difference in the water level between the two sides.
El Calafate is super fancy and touristy. Lots of leather and fur stores and servicepeople that speak English. We left bright and early the next day for the highlight of Los Glaciers Ntnl Park - Fitz Roy!
El Chalten is this tiny little town in the middle of the north end of Los Glaciers National Park. It is also much less visited than the southern end of the park which houses Moreno Glacier. From town you can see Mt. Fitz Roy and huge granite towers similar to those in Torres del Paine, called Corre Torres. Our first day in El Chalten was completely bluebird - finally the rain stopped following me!!! Typically the Corre Torres are socked in, so the recommendation was to hit the trail with the views of those guys first. Every bus that arrives in town stops at the park visitor center where everyone gets a map and a briefing on the rules.
We had trouble finding a hostel at first because we didn´t make reservations. Luckily we ended up at a decent place and didn´t have to rent camping equipment. We have too much stuff to carry up a hill at this point in the trip! The downside is that we've been dealing with loud snorers each night. Private rooms are the new plan after El Calafate.
There are two main series of granite pinnacles here. The trail you hike up determines which ones you will see at the top. By now we´ve done three hikes and seen Fitz Roy from many different angles. The best part about this place is that we can just take off from our hostel and be on a great hike in minutes - and for free! There is also amazing vegetarian food here which was very unexpected because we are 70km down a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. The bus ride was not fun. The town of El Chalten starts at this visitor center and ends a rambling 2 km north. For the amount of buildings and houses here the town is really spread out. It is all dirt road with fairly ugly quickly built structures, no ATMs (you must stock up on cash in El Calafate), about a dozen hostels and a fancy hotel on a hill at the end of town. Besides the great food, there are also cool artist stores and rather urbane clothes, jewelry, etc. Kind of weird but I bought a purse and necklace that look like they came from a boutique in the Mission from a shop in an Argentinian Ntnl Park.
Yesterday's hike was the longest, hardest and wettest, but the views were great. The very top of the summit we thought we were aiming for was inaccessible without an ice axe and crampons, so we settled for the view accessible using hiking boots.
It is just amazing here. Dave has met the local ski guide and is already planning to come back for some touring someday.
Now we are waiting to get back on the 4 hours on gravel road bus ride.