This week, I had my first visitor! Ryan and I met at work and became friends when he started coaching me in tennis. He was just as excited about Patagonia as I was, so in late February, we started planning a trip together. We’d head almost directly to Patagonia with four other Remotes, and then spend a few days in Buenos Aires before he went back home…

Here are some highlights from his time in Buenos Aires:

• So much good food! Dinner at Calden, my first closed-door restaurant experience with Steaks by Luis (best steak of my life – seriously), lunch at Social Paraiso. (The closed-door restaurant is a new trend in Buenos Aires, which are reservation-only, family-style dinners held in rented spaces/homes. Very cool gourmet experience.)
• Bizarre nightlife: seeing lots of interesting characters at rock night at Makena, including a band that looked like the Beatles but, much to our dismay, did not play Beatles music, then going to Liquido club for a little dancing/observing of the younger crowd…
• Sending Ryan off to do walking tours of Recoleta and the City Center (which he missed but still got some good sights in)
• Introducing him to Johnson, one of the Remotes, and a fellow tennis fan – he played twice in the week he was here!

The piece de resistance, however, was Patagonia. It’s hard to describe in words what our experience was like (hence the videos below), but suffice it to say that Patagonia is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. We flew into El Calafate, which instantly reminded me of a cute ski resort town. Lots of log cabin-looking houses, chocolate stores, and just a really cute vibe. We had a great dinner at Mi Rancho, and got rest to prepare for our ice trek on Perito Moreno glacier the next day. We wore crampons on our shoes to walk ON A GLACIER, had a drink at the end of our tour WITH GLACIER ICE, and generally had a lot of fun.

That evening, we took a bus to El Chalten, which is a tiny town and one of the trekking meccas of the world. It is home to Cerro Fitz Roy, a stunning mountain landscape and trails starting literally from town – you can walk outside your hostel and hike.

The next morning, we set out to hike Fitz Roy and Laguna de los Tres, a 20km hike with the last 1km basically a vertical ascent to the best view of Fitz Roy mountain. As soon as we got to the trailhead, it started to snow… and kept snowing all day. It was so bad that we had to complete our hike without the Laguna de los Tres part, which was disappointing but definitely the right decision. It was still beautiful, stunningly so in some parts of the trail where the fall colors and the snow made it look like a mystical fairy tale, but we missed a lot of the vistas.

After consolation mulled wine, we decided to get dinner at this adorable restaurant called Cerveceria and ran into Johnson and a group his friends. They convinced Ryan and me to stay an extra day in El Chalten to try the Laguna de los Tres hike again the next day in better conditions.

We changed our bus back to Calafate, booked new flights, and geared up for another 20km. Best decision ever. Though my legs were screaming at me, and my mind kept telling me to turn back during the steepest, most challenging part of the hike (which was SO icy and treacherous from the snow the day before), WE MADE IT TO THE TOP.

Arriving at the top of the trail was probably one of the best feelings I’ve had. The culmination of the disappointment from the day before, the fear from the icy ascent to the top, and the awe that such beautiful places in the world exist resulted in such an emotional high.

I can’t wait to go back to Chalten one day and do it again, as well as the other hikes in the area.

Our final day in Patagonia, we walked around Calafate, including a bird reserve/beach of Lago Argentino. And we found horses in the street, because Patagonia.

(LOL at our discussion of what to do with the horse…)

I could not have asked for a better week. Everyone needs to experience Patagonia at some point in their lives!

Working at Ninina, our favorite coffee shop

Ryan is here! Steak at Calden

Iconic Cafe Tortoni

Cafe Tortoni

Rock party at Makena

Ryan enjoying coffee

Street art – Che Guevara

Ryan and Arestia, waiting for our delayed flight

Hoping we don’t get delayed anymore to Patagonia

Hostel – America del Sur

Ready for glaciers! Liz, me, Ryan, Carolyn, Arestia, Michelle

Boat ride to the glacier – Arestia, Carolyn, Ryan

Perito Moreno

We’ve arrived!

Perito Moreno

Awesome clouds

Ryan is excited

Crampons for ice walking!

Me and Ryan getting ready to hop on the glacier

So many crevasses

So blue!

Carolyn is excited

We’re on a glacier!

Really deep moulin (glacier shaft)

Ryan is so happy to be in Patagonia

Me, Liz, Arestia

Cheers from Patagonia! Random man, Liz, Arestia, Michelle, me, Ryan, Carolyn

Whiskey with glacier ice!

Posing. Arestia, Michelle, Ryan

Ryan and I in front of the lagoon

Perito Moreno in all its glory

They even have a cafe overlooking the glacier!

Day 1 hiking Fitz Roy (Ryan, Carolyn, Liz, me, Arestia)

Our hike

Snow falling (me, Arestia, Ryan, Carolyn)

Trail bridges (Rya, Arestia, Carolyn, Liz)

Fall colors

Tundra (Arestia, Ryan)

Almost made it to the turning point!

Fun bridge! So much snow!

Small shelter near the start of Laguna de los Tres trail for lunch

We’re sad that we couldn’t complete the hike

Beautiful colors

Finally clearing up a little towards the end of Day 1

Rio Blanco down below

View of El Chalten

We made it back to town! (me, Ryan, Arestia)

Ryan befriended a dog

Cerveceria, the magical bar where we got convinced to stay another day

Fitz Roy! The day before NONE OF THIS WAS VISIBLE

Cerro Fitz Roy – Day 2

We can see so much more on day 2!

Ryan in front of Fitz Roy

Glacier!

We can see the glacier!

Beautiful clouds

The same tundra — this time with a view

Weird Tazmanian devil cloud

Getting closer…

Actually doing it this time!

Halfway up Laguna de los Tres. You can’t tell but I’m terrified.

Channeling my fear into excitement

I MADE IT! This was so worth it.

Ryan in front of Laguna de los Tres

All the feelings!

Ryan

Me/The Little Mermaid

We finally did it!

Down in front of the Laguna

Check out the ice on these steps!

High five!

Beautiful on the way down too

Laguna Capri

Ryan, Johnson, Vicky

Last gorgeous views

Last gorgeous views

1km left!!!

Vicki, Johnson, me, Ryan in front of Cerveceria

Much deserved locro (stew)

On the way back to Calafate

Hot chocolate in Calafate

Ryan’s new best friend

Ryan and I at Lago Argentino

No shoes = Ryan’s happy place

Cool pin map at a cafe in Calafate

Ryan and a gnome by Libreria bar

We were almost at the end of the world!

Our plane, with Lago Argentino as the backdrop. So long, Patagonia!